


A Tail of Sorts

by Meesta_Egg



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Jesse is a cutie though so it is all good, M/M, Mer AU, Mermaid Hanzo, but no more than you would anticipate in the game?, four situations, idk - Freeform, in like, merman but whatevs, some minor violence and blood, the majority is fluff, there's blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2018-08-19 12:18:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8207632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meesta_Egg/pseuds/Meesta_Egg
Summary: In light of the situation, Jesse was surprised at how calm he acted. Inside, he was a screeching mess of surprise, anxiety, superstition and mostly confusion.  Outwardly, he blinked twice, ran a hand down his salty face, and then sighed.  “That aint normal.” He said simply.





	1. A man's pride is his Shiny Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo finds a shiny thing

The first time, he had thought he was hallucinating something fierce. 

Agent McCree felt rocks and sand scrape against his back and arms. The armor on his chest was tight and constricting, obviously dented, and was soaked through with salty water. It took several attempts, and even more blinks, before he was able to open his eyes and hiss in pain. The wounds he suffered were minor- he hoped. But the water stung like a hellhound’s bite, while it seemed his mechanical arm was completely useless. The throbbing of each injury told him he had two open wounds, and one very large bruise in the center of his chest. Probably a few broken bones. Rolling his head, he attempted to loosen his shoulders, to no avail, and only ended up coughing up the water that had decided to enter his mouth on the way here…

Wherever here was. 

“Ahh…Madre de Dios-” 

The cowboy froze as he felt eyes trained on him, and something brush against his arm. Who exactly had pulled him out of the water- and how? If he remembered correct, and he reckoned he did, they had been several miles above sea and flying in the middle of oceanic nowhere, when old pal Reaper had sent him flying like a bat outta Hades right into the churning sea. 

Unless someone dived out of the helicraft to get him, he should be dead. Turning his head slowly, and pushing the wet, stringy hair from his eyes, he was met with a pair of nearly black irises. 

Shouting in surprise, which was accompanied by an accidental gasp of agony, Jesse tried to back away from the curious looking man that was practically sitting in his lap, nose a mere foot from his own. However, with his useless arm, and injured torso, and the slip of wet sand, the action resulted in the gunslinger flailing gracelessly onto his back, where the other found it easier to examine his face more closely. 

The stranger’s hands were on either side of the waterlogged man’s shoulders. In turn, McCree was able to pick up on quite a few traits of this man as well. Enviously clear skin, very dark eyes, an almost perfectly trimmed beard that lined his jaw and under his nose. He sported extremely sharp cheeks as well, and long locks of black hair that ended just short of his shoulders. Behind the line of his wet bangs, he could see flashes of bright blue and neon pink, like he had some sorts of bright ornaments on his ears. Weird. He was soaked, just as the cowboy found himself to be. This must’ve been the fella who saved him.

The man above him wrinkled his brow, apparently decided that he had seen enough of this man’s face to satisfy his curiosity. Carefully, he backed off by pushing away with his arms. Jesse sat up, another heave of breath leaving him, and nearly fell back over at the sight of his savior. 

He had a tail?!

After seven solid seconds of good, hard, staring, McCree decided that yes, indeed he did. He could lie like a dog, but there was no way his brain could make up something that pretty. It was bright blue like the strange ornaments on his ears, translucent in an unsettling way. Bones could be seen through the scaly exterior, only just tinted by the neon of the blue and pink. In the right light, you could just barely pick up on oddly shaded bits of muscle. Oh- those weren’t ornaments on his ears. Those were his ears. They matched the tail, that was swishing just a foot away from the cowboy’s legs. It was that neon pink at the part where the fins connected to the should-be leg area. Gulping, the agent pushed his vision back to the equally strange eyes. In all, he looked like he didn’t belong on the same planet as McCree or any other human, a bit too beautiful. Too ethereal. 

In light of the situation, Jesse was impressed at how calm he was. A screeching mess of surprise, anxiety, superstition and mostly confusion churned in his stomach. (perhaps less surprising once he realized that was his emotional state about 60% of his life) Outwardly, he blinked twice, ran his hand down his gritty face, and then sighed once he was sure he wasn’t hallucinating. 

“That aint normal.” He said simply, looking back to the translucent tail that was resting on the beach beside the man before him. 

The merman scowled at him before huffing, glittering, pink gills flaring on his neck with the action. Jesse hadn’t noticed that before now. 

“What a rude thing to say, human. That relies solely on perspective. To me, your silly legs are simply impractical.” He paused, looking the tall human up and down before settling on his face. “Though yours aren’t as thin as most human’s I’ve seen.” Not many. Mostly swimmers at a beach. “I suppose that makes staying upright a little easier for you. What are you called?” 

“Ah- Jesse. I’m… I’m a… Jesse.” The poor man looked ready to faint. Maybe he would. It had been a long day. “Jesse McCree.” Wait- had he just called him fat? “An’ my legs are perfectly normal sized, I’ll thank ya kindly. Just got a bit more muscle.” They were also very uncomfortable in sandy, wet, jeans. But he decided to leave that part out.

“Je…sseeeee….” The mer tasted the name a few times, pronouncing it different ways until it felt proper on his forked tongue. The cowboy noticed the tips of sharp teeth then, and took a mental not to stay away from them. “Jeh- seeeee, Jesse. Jesse. What brings you to me, Jesse?” 

“I- we were- it- uhhhh.. Cargo. We were protecting Cargo. I got thrown out.” Jesse rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, breathing deeply through his nostrils. “What do you call yourself, if ya don’t mind my askin’.” 

The mer blinked at him, a strange blue film crossing over his eyes before the fleshy lids did over that. The gunslinger, again, thought he may just pass out. 

“I am called Hanzo.” The creature said, still examining the human in front of him, as if trying to determine if he was a threat. McCree couldn’t help but think that this fella’s voice reminded him of crashing waves. Fitting, really. Very low, very rough, very menacing. Hanzo’s eyes lingered on the destroyed prosthetic and what was left of his ammunition on his belt. Not to mention the gaudy buckle that rested on his pelvis. Or at least- that’s what McCree hoped he was looking at. Was his fly down? Buckle undone? Oh no- were his chaps still on?

Glancing down, he made sure that everything was good and proper (it was, apart from excess amounts of sand in the folds of his jeans), the confused man looked back to his new companion and was interested to see that Hanzo was examining the hat he had apparently saved along with him. Speaking of… It was his least favorite black Stetson, but the material was ruined. Shame.

“What is this? A bowl? It would not hold anything, it’s made of the wrong materials.” 

“Ah- that’s cuz it’s a hat, partner.” The gunslinger said slowly, holding his hand out, inviting the other to learn what to do with it. Hanzo hesitantly held it out and Jesse took it, placing it onto the mer’s head. It was crooked, but he deemed it fine since he only had one hand to work with. “See? Like that.” 

Hanzo tensed up immediately, but slowly relaxed once McCree backed away. Reaching up, he touched the brim of the accessory, marveling at the strange texture of the leather, and the smooth feeling of the shining ornaments on it. The difference of textures was almost unsettling, and reminded the mer of the difference between water and coral. He tested the word on his mouth over and over, just as he had Jesse’s name before.

“What is it for?” The finned fellow finally asked, his tail swishing in curiosity. It was almost endearing. It might have been, if McCree wasn’t freaking out. Currently, he found that trying to make his communicator work would be his best move. Pulling it out of his ear, he frowned at the soggy gadget.

“Keeps the sun outta my eyes? N’ it looks nice? Uh… comfort?” 

“Hmm.” Hanzo took the hat off of his head and examined it some more, before stretching up and putting it back on. It did feel nice. And it seemed to keep the sun out of his eyes, just like Jesse had said. Not to mention, the bronze ornaments on it were well polished and seemed shiny.

“What is that?” Hanzo asked, scooting to look at the communicator that McCree was laying out on the sand. The sun was still reasonably high and would get it dried out in no time- like an old ipod or something. 

“It’s an earpiece communicator.” Jesse said, glancing up to make eye contact with the mer before going back to work. He started to examine his arm, to see if he could fix it at all. 

“What does it do?” 

“It helps me talk t’ my team when we are further apart.” 

“There are more of you? Did they fall into the water as well?” He seemed rather tense about that idea. Probably because he didn’t trust humans much. Jesse must have been an exception of some sort. Lucky him. 

“Oh Lord, I hope not. I don’t think Lena can swim. Plus that means the payload will be lost.” 

“Base? Paaah- Pay? Lood? Loaaaad…Payload? Where? How would you lose it?” His struggle on the word payload was almost cute. “Were you attacked? Is that why you were… kicked? Kicked out? Is that why you won’t move your arm?” 

The cowboy sighed and scrubbed his face stretching his legs out in front of him to ease the pins and needles that seemed to be building up in them. “I’m on a team of people who try and help people who can’t protect themselves.” He said after a moment. 

“Now if I could, how did I get on this bit o’ beach in particular?” 

“I brought you here.” Hanzo said curtly, not even blinking. “You were bleeding. I didn’t want the hunters to come around because you decided to drop from the sky. You almost crushed me.” 

"Hmm. Sorry ‘bout that.” The sharpshooter sighed and lifted his arm above his head in a stretch, then cricked his neck from side to side, trying to loosen his muscles. It hurt like the Dickens, but he felt the need to move. He needed to do something to occupying his mind from the fact that he had been saved by, and was conversing with, a fish man. “Pardon my askin’. But how long was I out?” 

“A while. The sun has gotten a bit lower since I brought you here.” 

As he spoke, the redundant sound of chopper blades resounded in the near distance. McCree smiled. That would be his team. They must have tracked him somehow.

“That’ll be-“ he turned his head to tell Hanzo that he would be out of his hair. But he was gone, only a tiny splash and the absence of his hat to indicate he had ever been there.


	2. Be sure to taste your words before spittin them out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McCree files his report

"Yer a Talkin' Gorrilla, Win. I thought you'd be a little less shocked." Jesse said, sitting across from the scientist at the rickety dinner table. His arm was being repaired and his wounds had finally been fixed up all shiny and new. Everyone seemed to be settling down now, even though in California, it was only just getting to sunset. 

"That's different. It makes sense. McCree, you put in your report that a literal Merman saved you." Winston groaned, downing his fourth jar of peanut butter since they had arrived. He could just feel the headache coming on. He needed to go to bed. 

"We fight with a Robotic Monk, a woman that can literally time travel, a guy that can heal with music, and two more soldiers who technically died five years ago, and two more soldiers that we constantly fight were also dead." McCree shrugged. "I gave up being surprised after that happened the third time."

A booming "I AS WELL" from the living room resounded from their local knight. Reinhardt, thus far, had been surprisingly... unsurprised? about the whole merman story. That sounded extra eloquent. McCree would have to add that to his book of 'never say it out loud's. That book had grown a lot recently. 

"Point is, we've seen crazier stuff. I think this might be, what? Maybe the third most ridiculous thing we've been through? Or at least myself personally." 

Winston paused at that. "What was your first?" Reinhardt entered then, an empty plate in hand and ready to be washed at the sink. 

"When we had Gabe belly dancin' in that fancy, pink, Turkish getup, I think. Made the mission go without a hitch though. I think I got the pictures somewhere." The cowboy said, tilting his head up while he thought about where on earth he could find them. Maybe he'd send them to Gabe somehow. That'd make him squirm. 

"He was rather impressive though, I must admit." The knight said, turning on the sink and starting to scrub. "Weren't you the runner up if he couldn't though?" 

"Don't remind me. Glad I didn't. I can dance but nothin' like that." McCree sipped his coffee. 

"Oh yeah- forgot about that." The scientist grunted. "Look, I believe you. But there were no readings of any non-marine life other than you when we scanned to find you." 

"I'd say a Merman is plenty marine, dontcha think?" The cowboy said, taking a deliberately loud slurp of his beverage, as if he had just finished that conversation. 

"Look- Rein and Lena are fine since they were there and heard you say it... but just... don't talk too much about it." Winston finally said, taking his glasses off and rubbing his eyes tiredly. "I just don't want the newer members to think-" He searched for a word.

"Don't worry, Win. Everyone already thinks I'm nuttier than a fruit cake, but they know I got their backs." McCree sighed, getting up and dumping the rest of his Arbuckle down the drain, leaving the mug in the dishwasher. "Ya wanna take out that bit on my report I won't say nothin'. But..." He exaggerated a stretch of his arms over his head. "I'm gonna hit the sack. See ya tomorrow, big guy. Night Reinhardt, take it easy." And with that he gave a friendly pat to the gorilla's shoulder and left.

The two watched him go before the large crusader hummed in an almost disappointed way, turning back to his dishes. Winston looked at him wearily.

"What is it?"

"I have not seen him this down since right before he left Blackwatch." Was all the veteran said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor guy. He isn't lying I promise. This is kind of filler, but I wanted to get that in there.  
> Let me know what you think or if you have suggestions!


	3. Boots can be scaled but Scales can't wear boots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Humans are weird creatures

Jesse didn't go to bed at all. In fact, as he looked down at his watch, it was nearing four AM. 

The beach was a lovely place in Gilbraltar. McCree made it a habit to visit whenever he could, specifically on his own. It was kind of tradition since even his Blackwatch days. It was so... different from the desert he was so used to. Or the frigid cold he had just spent for three weeks in Snowy tundras. It was peaceful and quiet and just so... relaxing. Jesse loved his family at Overwatch, but even for him it could be overwhelming. 

He could understand why Winston didn't believe him. None of it made sense. Heck, he had begun to wonder if he had even seen what he did. Maybe he had hallucinated the whole thing in delirium. His injuries had been quite bad, exhaustion, dehydration, and a slight concussion to top off that apple pie. He could have been out of his mind.  
But... he could still remember that tail- those eyes. The entrancing character who had stolen his hat. How else had he gotten on that beach? How could he have conveniently floated against the natural current and ended up- 

The cowboy did everything short of screaming in surprise when something wet slapped it's grip onto his foot. Looking down, he saw a sopping wet stetson drooping over the ankle of his boot and the side of his leg. Sitting straight up, Jesse found himself staring into a startlingly familiar set of dark eyes, with a film over them to protect them from the saltwater, he figured. 

"Hanzo! How-?" 

"I followed the sounds of your bird machine." Hanzo said flippantly. "I had forgotten that you put this on my head." He held up the black hat... or what remained of it. The ornaments that had adorned it previously had been deliberately torn off. Upon further inspection, McCree was nothing short of amused to see that there were bullet-shaped casings that had been formed into ear cuffs and a ring on slender fingers. The emblem was still on the leather strip that had originally held all of it in place, and was wrapped artfully around the top of the bright blue Tail fin, where it connected to the main tail.

"Glad to see it went to good use. I guess you just wanted the valuable stuff offa the thing. Don't blame ya, s' the best part." 

Hanzo regarded him carefully, ignoring the statement, looking at Jesse up and down, like a strange food to be regarded before eaten. It made the agent gulp. 

"How do these work?" The Fish-man asked, suddenly grasping at Jesse's foot. The cowboy jolted at the sudden contact, but laughed anyway. 

"My feet?" 

"All of it." The Merman lifted the leg he had (the right one) and examined it like it was the most interesting thing he had seen in years. The agent wasn't sure whether he should feel violated or flattered. To be completely honest, no one had ever cared for his legs before. That was more Lena's thing. In fact, most people just commented on his butt. It made him wonder if Merfolk had their own versions of the hindquarters. They were technically naked after all-

Pushing that thought aside, McCree finally opted to answer.

"They have bones in em that hold me up, and muscles to help em move so I can walk on em." 

"How do you stay upright? It seems all so impractical." Hanzo said bluntly. 

"Well it's all in the balance. Somethin' ta do with our center of gravity and toes and stuff. To be totally honest, I'm not the best person t' ask. If I could, I'd tell ya t' ask Angela. She's the doc, after all." 

"Doc?" 

"Sort of a health specialist." 

"Oh- someone who knows how to heal other humans? Did she heal you?" It would explain the lack of iron smell. 

"Yeah. She knows more of the hows and what's than lil' old me." The gunslinger chuckled. "I'd probably be dead if not for her." 

Hanzo straight up ignored that, choosing to stick to his original conversation starter. "I noticed that everyone's feet are shaped and coloured differently. Sometimes they have strange fingers on them- and then there are some like yours. More... sturdy." He tapped the toe of McCree's boots, which he had thrown on with his sleep shorts and long sleeved T-shirt. Hana had called him a fashion disaster. She wasn't wrong, honestly, but he didn't honestly care when he had just left straight from the med-bay. At least he had left his hat. 

"Oh- these r' boots. We have sort o' coverin's to protect our feet when we walk around. They're not very good for swimmin' though." The explanation was as vague as he could make it. 

"You're saying this skin comes off?" The creature asked, looking to the boots with wide eyes. "Doesn't that hurt?" 

"Not at all, partner." McCree laughed. "It aint skin, it's just somethin' we put over em." 

Hanzo lifted the leg even higher, in a rather uncomfortable pose for the cowboy to be in. But he held his tongue. No need to upset his curiosity. Especially when it could end with the Mer leaving again. 

The not-so-mythical creature began to tug on the boot, trying to see the foot underneath it, and again, Jesse had to laugh. Holding up his hand he indicated for the mer to stop, and then went to work pulling off his beloved boots. They were still incredibly water damaged, so he didn't mind much for wearing them on the beach. 

Once he revealed his socked feet, he then tugged those off and then wiggled his toes, so that Hanzo could see. The merman watched them curiously, as if trying to figure out the mechanics of them, and poked one. This made the cowboy guffaw and twitch. The poor mer looked confused. 

"Did I hurt it?" 

"Nah- it's just kind of ticklish there." 

"Ticklish?" 

"Uh- means it feels real strange to have someone else touch it." Jesse shrugged. "Happens all the time with us humans. They're kinda sensitive." 

"I... see. Is that why you cover them?" 

"Yeah- one of the reasons I s'ppose." The agent sighed, flopping back on the sand. It had been a long day, and he didn't much care for the sunlight reflecting off of the water and into his eyes "Tell me sommat, Han. Why didja really follow me?" 

"What do you mean? I thought you would want your silly h... hat back." He had to remember the new word again. Jesse raised his brow, watching as the Mer leaned back on his hands, shoulders locking to hold him up. His translucent tail swished back and forth. The cowboy knew there was probably more, but said nothing. 

Neither did Hanzo. He would not damage his pride by admitting that he was lonely, and had enjoyed Jesse's company while it had lasted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ou O Toes are weird. Fins are hard to walk on.  
> Let me know what you think!! We got the first Fanart for this fic too!!! I'm super stoked!!


	4. Men worth kissing are not easily kissed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo reveals a strange truth

Hanzo was on the beach at the usual time. Well into the night, when the tide was high, and could help pull himself higher on the beach. It was especially bright tonight, what with the large planet in the sky swollen to it's full circle. Pale light bounced on the waves, rested on pale, wet skin and scales, illuminated every muscle fiber that showed through the pellucid tail, and gleamed off of grains of sand and small trinkets on every appendage. 

It had been about six months since mer and human had struck acquaintance, and about five month since both had decided the other was their friend. It had been only a mere month since Hanzo had decided he had never trusted anyone more than he had Jesse McCree. The thought made him quite giddy, if he was honest with himself. He had never really had a friend like this, where he felt safe around them all of the time. He had never felt that he could trust someone with his life. Not since... ahem. 

They even talked of the past sometimes. Vaguely, in some cases. But comparing their cultures, language and upbringing was more... fun than either could have anticipated. Jesse had taught his new friend many new words from his own vocabulary, while Hanzo explained much about his. Blackwatch and Overwatch were compared to the Merpeople's clans. Shimadas had once seemed just as nobel as their groups, but was no longer a part of the blue tail's life. Just as Blackwatch was no longer a part of the gunslingers. 

Not to mention, Jesse spoiled him. Little gifts, shiny trinkets that were found whenever he was looking for them on his various travels. Hanzo had a small hoard of them now, hiding them away under an unmarked rock beneath the waves. Jesse had even given him a box to keep it all in, so that he could never lose them. There was even a lovely, leather, circlet with a earthy blue and black stone in the center of it, that was especially treasured. McCree said that he had made it himself. Turquoise, is what he had called the stone, and had said that he and his abuela had used to make things out of it when he was young. It wasn't particularly glittery or fantastical. But it had charmed the Mer. He never took it off from around his head. 

"Yer like a lil' dragon, Han." The human had told him, laughing at his own joke. 

Hanzo was suddenly pulled from his reverie as the said gunslinger's footsteps ground in the loose sand. "Lil Dragon! Ya beat me again!" 

The dark haired creature quirked a brow. "I have far less distance to travel." He said as Jesse plopped down next to him. Tonight he wore his usual boots. The finned man almost wished he wouldn't, so that he could try and figure out exactly how on earth those strange things called toes were supposed to help humans walk. He also wanted to see how humans were supposed to swim, how it worked. Perhaps someday he'd ask.

"Yeah well. A man's gotta try. How was yer day?" 

"Uneventful. How was yours? I saw you leave and come back quite late this time." It was true, the aircraft had departed at daybreak and had only returned near sundown.  
McCree groaned at that, leaning back on his elbow and pushing his unruly hair back with his flesh hand. "It was alright. It was just some recon in Rio. But man, it was also prolly 'bout the most awkward mission I done had since Blackwatch. Mostly just cuz o' everyone teasin me all the way back home." 

"Why so?" Hanzo leaned back with him. He glanced at the man briefly before looking back towards the clear night sky. 

"Oh there was some lady. I aint ever seen someone that drunk at noon before, but she seemed ta take a likin' ta me. Kissed me even. I had to wash my face for 'least twenty minutes 'fore I felt clean again. Turns out she was tryin' ta make her ex jealous or sommat. Don't get me wrong, she was sweet as pie, but I wasn't lookin fer that kinda action." 

"Kissed you?" The Merman sat up at that, eyes wide. "Did you know her?" 

McCree looked at him with confusion, regarding the other male's sudden shock. "Well, no. That's why it felt so wrong, I guess. I mean, I've had t' smooch some strangers on undercover Op 'fore. But I aint never liked it much. Why? Is that a big deal with your kind? Er- mer people?" 

"Of course it is." Hanzo said. He observed as the human sat up to listen more intently. "Everyone knows that it is a binding act. Usually it only happens between lovers or permanent mates, both physical and spiritual. Is it not the same for humans?" 

"Oh yeah- it is. Kinda? I dunno- I don't think it necessarily binds us quite so powerful, to be frank. I know of plenty o' folk who kiss whatever has a pulse. It's not bad o' course. It's just not my cuppa joe." They stayed silent for a moment. "What happens if ya kiss a human or somethin?" 

Why he felt it necessary to ask that, McCree would never know.

The mer looked at him, eyebrows furrowed. "I do not know much about it, to be quite honest with you, Jesse. But I and my sibling were told that humans have a different sort of power than we do, and are physically unable to give theirs as we do. It is common knowledge that affiliation with water promotes healing. Like a sea-sponge, they absorb our powers, taking it for their own until death.

So if it is taken, it heals the human, but turns the mer human as well, until the human dies and gives back our... magic. As I said, I do not know if it is true. But I would rather not find out." Hanzo felt that his explanation was the best he could give, given that he didn't truly understand it himself.

"Wow. Yeah I'd say that's a big deal." Jesse whistled. He shrugged though, feeling a little disappointed for some reason or another. He tried to imagine losing his ability to shoot straight if he kissed someone, and didn't much like it. "Kissin's overrated anyways." 

Hanzo huffed fondly and leaned against the human's shoulder, resting his head there. He was so much warmer than the ocean ever had been. On top of that, he smelled so strange and different from anything surrounded by constant saltwater. And he felt safe. The mer couldn't help but enjoy it, even if he tried.

"By the way, Han. I gotta leave in a day or so fer a long mission. I don't know how long, exactly. But more than a week." The cowboy sighed heavily, loosely putting an arm around his buddy's shoulder to keep him warm. He wasn't sure if he needed it, but with how clammy his fishy friend's skin felt, it was instinct. "I might not make it back tomorrow cuz of meetin's and all." His companion stayed silent for a long moment, playing with the robotic arm that rested in the human's lap, moving it's fingers gently. "I'll try ta find ya somethin nice." He promised.

"Thank you for telling me. Do be careful on your mission." Hanzo said quietly. Jesse only hummed to that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that wasn't so cheesy as I feel it was. But a rule is a rule! It has to be set! No kisses!  
> I mentioned it in my planning for the fic, and I'm really excited to see what you guys think of it.  
> Tell me!!! The feedback I'm getting on this is overwhelmingly kind~<3  
> Thank you kindly!


	5. Take a fish out of water and he can't swim

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McCree leads a Mission and makes a strange discovery

The mission had gone as well as expected. McCree was ready to lose his mind by the end of it, and was bored near to tears. To be completely honest, he had expected as much when he had been told by Winston that he was going with only Reinhardt and Lucio. He was in charge of the OP, since he was most familiar with the areas they were to scout, which were mostly in New Mexico and Arizona. They were to try and glean information about the mysterious healing tech that Talon and other gangs were suddenly supplied with, making their jobs very much harder. The rest of the agents would be out on another mission down in Egypt. 

Easy peasy. 

On the twenty sixth day, the three men only had one more area to search and then they would be heading home the next late, morning. Jesse couldn't be happier to know this, and had regained a skip in his step once again. It was easily apparent that he wasn't the only one excited about going home either, with how both the musician and crusader had both seemed to snap out of their own funks within the last twenty four hours, and had talked of nothing but good food in that time. 

Once dusk set, the trio set out with their gear and passed through the emptying streets with the nonchalance of any other civilian. McCree could openly admit that he felt naked without his sarape, hat or chestplate. Peacekeeper was hidden in a holster that was strapped about his chest under his denim jacket, which had his spurs hidden in the pockets. He had forgotten to take them off before they were pointed out by his companions. His hair was pulled up as well, making his head hurt from the constant pressure of the hairtie.

Lucio and Reinhardt were dressed in equal disguise. T Shirts and sweats, a hoodie for Lucio to keep on over his iconic locks, and a loose-fitting jacket for Reinhardt, to make him look at least a tiny bit less muscular. The team leader would never say it, but seeing the two in tennis shoes was about the most hilarious thing he had ever seen. 

McCree acted as the enthusiastic friend, showing the two around the little town in New Mexico, entertaining them. When someone looked at them strangely, the cowboy would wave and say something in rapid-fire spanish that Reinhardt couldn't quite understand. Something about showing the tourists around, or going out for drinks, he guessed. (He was wrong. Jesse was telling the locals that they had forgotten what hotel they were staying at, and was trying to help them find it.)

"Kay you two, I got low. You two take high. Take the stairwell up and follow me from above. Athena said this place aint supposed t' have any cameras, cuz it's fairly new territory. But I don't ever trust that to be the case, so stay alert. Rein, if ya could be our lookout, we'll be outta here by mornin' and get ourselves a nice cuppa joe and real food." McCree grinned. "Comprende?" The other two nodded enthusiastically. 

"I hear you, man! Lets get this done!" The youngest said, grinning. 

"Let us embark!" The giant of a man laughed, trying (and almost failing) to keep his voice down.

They went in through their designated entryways and cautiously went around the large compound. It irritated McCree that there were no windows, no easy exits. He was especially annoyed that if they needed to make an escape, they would have to retrace their steps, or somehow parkour all of the way to the roof. With Just he and Lucio, maybe. But Reinhardt didn't stand such a chance to scale the twenty foot walls, and he refused to leave one of his oldest friends behind. 

An hour in, and they had covered almost half of the building. A few papers and files were pocketed, and more than a dozen thumb drives were swiped by the musician and crusader. McCree kept in close touch, checking every five minutes that they were still okay. His vantage point was terrible. And it was dark. Not the best combination, but he'd seen worse. 

Finally they reached the center/back room, where Lucio and Reinhardt were forced to jump down from the upper catwalk. They stalked around the edges of what seemed to be a large garage-like setup. 

"That aint normal. Why would they have a garage like this in the back of a base?" Lucio asked, looking up at the other two teammates. "Wouldn't that make getting out even harder?"

"Perhaps to keep something hidden?" The German said, looking at the shorter veteran. "New technology?" 

"Well Mercy did say they had some sort of healing tools she wanted to figgur out." Jesse groaned. "Maybe they don't want whatever is in there to be able to get out at all." He glanced at the door, which had a large glass box over a red thumb-print reader. Looking around, he saw a trash can. Cautiously, he opened the lid, and found a horrendous smell blasting itself into his face. It smelled of rotting meat and dry blood. Not a good sign. "Maybe this is their medical ward?" Gagging, he reached in and grabbed a latex glove. 

"Think y'could get a thumb print offa this?" He asked Lucio, who grinned mischievously. 

"I like the way ya think, Eastwood!" He chuckled, taking the offending object. Carefully, he turned the glove so that the thumb was facing down, and held a light to it. Smeared fingerprints showed through the rubbery material and Lucio nodded. "Kay, I'm gonna need somethin' sticky. D'ya have tape or somethin?" 

It took another five minutes of some sort of weird hacking trick and a piece of tape, but Lucio watched with a satisfied smirk as the red screen switched to green, and the door slid open. He gestured for McCree and Reinhardt to enter first, taking a small bow. 

"Thanks partner." He winked at the kid, before carefully stepping inside. The rebel musician just laughed.

The room was eerily dark and empty, with only a medium sized window about ten feet above their heads for light. No furniture or tables rested on the cement ground, but for a large, square, tank in the center. McCree froze when he saw the silhouette in it. 

Looking at it closely, they walked closer to the water box. Jesse was just a breath away before a hand suddenly slammed harshly against the glass. The team jumped, startled from their marvel, dulled, brown eyes staring back at them through murky water. The cowboy was tempted to touch the glass to where the creature's own was pressed against the wall. 

"Hey Eastwood? What was it you were sayin' about fish people?" Lucio whispered

The gunslinger had no chance to answer before a loud alarm went off and the door slammed shut. The silhouette in the tank suddenly started to writhe in the sloshing mess of water. With not a moment to lose, the hatless cowboy whipped his head to look at the other two. 

"How do y'all fell about climbin?"  
~*~ 

Hanzo had been quite bored since McCree had left. He had a twisting feeling in his gut that the human wouldn't return to him, and it made him more irritable than ever. He knew plenty of what the man did for his living, and that he could take care of himself. But he knew enough from experience that anything could go wrong whenever it felt like. The world owed them no good fortune, and most of the time it did not freely give it.

It was the twenty-eighth day and the fish-tailed creature was about at his wits end with a mixture of worry, anger and bitter loneliness stirred into a fine cocktail. Or whatever Jesse had called it. Probably a cocktail. 

The lingering thoughts all suddenly stopped as the familiar sound of an aircraft sounded above him. Elated, he dove from his resting place on a buoy that bobbed in the middle of the ocean, and made a quick line towards the beach he and his companion constantly occupied. He waited just in the water, sitting where the tide would begin to rise at any time, given the moon decided it.

And he waited. 

And waited. 

And waited. 

By the fourth hour, the former Shimada felt ill. Was Jesse alright? Was he hurt? Did he even make it back? What if he had died? He would never know, because no one on the base even knew he existed to tell him. What if Jesse had just decided not to come ba- 

Footsteps sounded from the sand, coming down the path that Jesse normally took. But Hanzo knew, right away, that it wasn't Jesse. The footsteps were too heavy, to large. Too spread, too quick. He knew Jesse's walk pattern like he did his own tailfins, having observed and studied it for so long. Whoever owned the footfalls was also faintly out of breath, as if he wasn't used to walking the sandy path. 

Quickly Hanzo pulled himself into the water until he could no longer be seen by whoever was coming, and hid carefully behind a large rock that poked it's rough head out of the water by about an arm-length. With the film back over his eyes, he watched as a large figure stopped just short of the water, standing with their hands on their hips. It wasn't a clear picture, but he could see that whoever this was, was certainly taller than Jesse, and had white hair as if aged quite more. His arms were thicker and his legs matched. A muffled voice sounded, as if they were calling for someone. Caution told him to stay put until they left, but he wanted to know for whom the large human called. 

Slipping his head up just out of the water enough to hear, the mer's eyes went wide as he listened to the gruff voice call out to he, himself. 

"Little dragon? Jesse told me you'd be here. I hate to bother you! But we need your help! And Jesse wants to see you!" The huge man called, his voice just as booming as his presence. The merman ducked under the water for a spit second, catching breath that he seemed to forget to switch over. Again, he lifted his head. "Little dragon! He told me to show you this- and that he promised something better later?!" The man held out something shiny, and even from this far away, it was instantly recognized as McCree's belt buckle.

There was no doubt that this man knew his human. There was no way he would have parted with that belt unless he meant for it to happen. The gold flashed in the remaining sunlight, and made the aquatic male pause. Debating, Hanzo knew that Jesse would not send anyone he couldn't trust to get him, but on the other, he had no idea who this was. He debated for only a moment, before pushing himself up and out of the water, startling the elder human. It was almost amusing to watch the huge fellow try and keep his balance before he fell flat on his backside in the water, in shock. But the situation dulled the effect.

"Why would you need me? And why could Jesse not come himself?" He asked, eyes glaring down the stranger. "Where is my human?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo just wants his buddy back o3o 
> 
> Thank you all for the best feedback ever! I'm trying to respond as I get them, but I struggle to load any page on the internet in less than two hours. *sobbing noises* But nonetheless! Tell me what you think!


	6. Retrouvaille

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> McCree is a Fish magnet

When Reinhardt had explained everything, Hanzo had been in haste to climb up on the beach and onto the large man's back. (Much to the crusader's amusement.) It was a quick trip up to the medbay and they walked in to see Dr. Ziegler bandaging up McCree's chest. Minor wounds from a mission gone wrong, he said. Angela had finished up, not seeming to mind the merman watching from the shoulders of her giant friend, and then had them all follow her to the clinical bathroom. 

"He's just in here- we tried ta keep him comfortable til' you came around. I haven't seen him since we got here- though he seems ta have takin' a liking to me. Has himself some pretty sharp claws. Wouldn't let go til' I promised ta come back." The resident Gunslinger explained, Mercy nodding next to him. 

"It was quite a spectacle." 

A strange twist occurred in the Shimada's gut. Whatever it was, he attributed it to the fact that whoever McCree had saved, had claws. Probably teeth. He hoped it wasn't someone of a venomous species. That could get rather messy, if so. 

"Do all y'fellas have the same sorta tail?" The sharpshooter suddenly asked, and Hanzo looked up sharply at this. "I mean yer whole species?" 

"No. My type of tail is extremely rare, known only to my clan... as far as any across the ocean know, I am of the last." He said slowly, examining McCree's back as he walked ahead, opening the door. That knowledge was privy to him because since childhood, his tail had put quite a target on him. But he was too busy being fascinated at how the human's muscles moved with every breath and swing of his arms. Even when he opened a door, his shoulders moved differently than any motion Hanzo had seen among his kind. 

"Well then, I guess maybe we found someone from yer clan, lil dragon. Distant relative? I dunno. He won't talk, so I don't know his name. Maybe havin' ya in there will help?" 

"Certainly it should! Who knows when this poor creature has seen any of his kind last?" Reinhardt said enthusiastically. Carefully, he steered his body so that his passenger didn't hit the top of the doorframe and helped him to sit on the edge of a rather large tub. "It will be invigorating to see someone familiar again!" 

"Hey buddy- I'm back. Sorry ta keep ya waitin' I got a buddy for ya t'talk ta while Angie fixes you up." McCree said, reaching into the tub. He brushed his knuckles against pale skin and got a shudder of movement in return. Turning his head, the gunslinger frowned. Hanzo tried to get a look at the creature, but from his spot behind Jesse, all he could see was flashes of green and abnormally pale skin. 

Like a snake, a hand shot out of the water and latched onto the gunslinger's arm. The agent was yanked forward slightly as an arm wrapped around his neck in a frightened embrace, and whoever this was, buried his head into McCree's shoulder, as if taking solace in the smoky scent. It took him several moments to stay balanced, and then return the terrifying hold. 

Hanzo was about to reach forward, but that flash of green hair and the wide, frightened eyes that looked to him were identical to his own. He chanced a look down into the bath and blanched. It was green and purple, patterned and translucent just as his was. He knew all of this, down to the very purple gills on either side of this fellow merman's neck.

"Genji?" He asked softly, examining the face of the other carefully once more. 

Genji, as he had been called, stared openly at Hanzo, and if his eyes went any wider, they probably would have popped out of his skull. Torn remains of his lime ears were drooped in unbelief and his vice grip around the human grew tighter, as if he needed it to stay grounded to reality. He probably did.

"… Brother?" 

McCree couldn't believe his ears. 

"We'll I'll be- it’s a small ocean after all." He muttered. Genji looked at him again, as if just now remembering that he was hanging off of the injured agent and quickly remedied that, dropping back into the water. He moved so that he was between Jesse and Hanzo, and pulled himself up with the cowboy's leg. The water wasn't that deep, but it seemed that his arms pained him, and he couldn't move properly.

Hanzo realized his brother's condition now, seeing large patches of his tail where scales had been less than carefully torn away. Invisible skin bled out where it was revealed from it's protection and bled deeply in several areas. His caudal and dorsal fins were torn to shreds, rendering his swimming impossible. Perhaps he could have relied on his arms and spare fins to swim away as well, but there were large lacerations running down both. The left arm was swollen to double it's original size, as if broken and untended. 

The elder of the two suddenly felt, for perhaps the second time in his life, like he was going to actually regurgitate what little food he had eaten. He carefully reached out and touched Genji's hair, as if to make sure he was real. The smaller mer leaned into the touch, just as he used to when they were guppies. 

"Brother- I thought I'd never see you again." Genji said, voice small and hoarse. Hanzo nodded and looked at McCree, then back to his lost- no. To his found brother, once more. 

"I thought the same." 

"How did you get here? Did they get you too? Hanzo-" The younger brother seemed genuinely panicked at the idea, which made the elder's stomach flip and flop like a beached fish. 

"No, no they didn't. Jesse... found me... in a sense. He has been a good friend." 

Silence filled the room for a good, solid, five minutes. McCree looked at Reinhardt, who tried to give a shrug, but fat tears were rolling down his cheeks at the witnessing of the touching reunion, dripping into his beard and onto his chest. Angela chuckled. 

"Reinhardt, dear, would you go and see how Winston is doing? And perhaps you could get some rest as well?" 

"O- of course! Excuse me." The crusader quickly made his exit, shoulders shaking in the happiest sob Jesse had ever seen in his life. It was hard not to roll his eyes, even though the other agent felt near tears himself. Instead, he turned to his fishy companions.

"Now, I gotta ask, just so we know. D'ya both feel comfortable stayin here on base? I'm pretty sure it'd work out, but if ya have ta go back to the ocean-" The gunslinger was interrupted faster than he could draw. 

"No, we can stay." Genji sounded panicked. "I don't want to go back." 

Hanzo felt his heart break a little more at this. Genji had used to love swimming around in the vast blue of the sea. "I will stay as well, then. I don't suppose... there is another pool for us to share? We do not need to stay permanently in the water, but it is inadvisable to stay out for too long, lest our scales dry out." 

McCree scratched his beard for a moment, thinking hard. "Well, I'm sure Tor, Win and I could rig somethin' up, but fer now we only have some tubs like this. Mines a lil' bit smaller, but it'd be alright for one of ya. I suspect Angie'll wanna keep Genji here til' he's back on his... fins." The doctor nodded, from where she sat at the end of the bathtub, arms folded over her chest. 

"I think that should work for now." 

"That- will be adequate I suppose." Hanzo sighed. He didn't say it aloud, but he was quite content with the idea of staying with Jesse. How did humans sleep anyway? He would have to find out. What of their interchangeable skins? Oh- and how did they care for their hair? And- the mer stopped himself. Some things, perhaps, he need not know. 

Angela retrieved her bag of supplies she had gathered to help the younger brother. "If you could, it would be beneficial to give me some room, McCree." 

"Can they stay?" Genji asked sheepishly, flashing his vision to either male beside him, and then locking eyes with the good doctor once more. That was the best puppy dog face Jesse had seen since Ana's daughter had asked to borrow his hat. That was twelve years ago. 

Angela thought for a moment. "I suppose they could, but I still need room to look at you properly. Would it be alright for them to sit over there?" She gestured over to the other end of the tub, where a chair was seated by the toilet. Both were usually only used when someone was injured too badly to use the restroom alone, but hadn't been touched in well over a year. 

"Thank you." The green mer said softly. His grip on McCree's arm tightened again, and whether he realized that his sharp nails were digging into the tanned skin or not, nobody said anything. 

The human male stood, picking up Hanzo carefully as well. Angela frowned at the strain he was putting on his injuries, but said nothing. She just gave that look that said 'you open them I'll hurt you'. The gunslinger was more than amused at the familiar expression. Poor Genji didn't let go of McCree though, latching onto his sleeve when he moved, and the attachment forced him to sit on the toilet lid. Hanzo eyed the chair, but chose to remain on the cowboy's lap, hand gently over his brothers, and the other wrapped tightly around the belt buckle he had never returned. 

After draining the tub, Mercy went to work immediately, bandaging what she could. Cleaning wounds, asking several questions about their tails. She remarked on the strength of the scales, after accidentally cutting herself on one of them when she had brushed it too hard. 'Like diamond' She had told them. Soon, the green mer was beginning to look a bit like a fishy mummy. 

Angela also explained that while she fixed what she could, some of the problems were not solvable with just bandages. She worried that some of Genji's insides were more damaged than she could fix, and could cause long term damage. Normally for a human, that meant surgery and maybe replacements immediately. But since she didn't know enough about their anatomy yet, she would have to keep a constant eye on him. Hanzo seemed incredibly tense about the idea, and Genji's hand tightened it's already painful grip on the gunslinger's hand. 

The doctor left to go and get her hand-held X-ray, promising to return quickly. 

"Take yer time, Ang. I'll keep em company." 

It wasn't long before both of the mermen had fallen asleep from both physical and emotional exhaustion. Black hair rested just under Jesse's chin, where the elder brother had decided it was comfortable to rest on the human's collarbone, his arms wrapped around the man's torso. And while the grip on his sleeve had slackened significantly, Genji hadn't quite let go, and his head was resting against the agent's thigh on the edge of the tub. 

When Angela returned, apologizing for taking so long, she was amused to see that the gunslinger had too, fallen asleep. His head rested atop Hanzo's, and Genji was hugging his thigh like a pillow, cheek squished against the muscle. She whipped out her phone. 

Lena and Fareeha would love this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoy! My updates might be a little more sporadic now, but hopefully I'll get the story done by the end of the month <3


	7. If you think holding on is hard, try letting go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heart to heart to heart to memory chip to heart

It did turn out that Genji had to undergo several surgeries to get back in healthy, working order: Winston, the giant ape (who insisted he was a scientist... whatever that was) had gleaned a lot of information from the drives and papers that Lucio, McCree and Reinhardt had stolen from the base where they had found Genji. Much of it was about Genji, what his scales and blood had in them and how his body was different from a humans. Useful in the hands of Jesse's teammates, but sinister otherwise. 

His internal damage was fixed to it's very best and bones were healing beautifully, but there were a number of other issues that remained. It took several weeks for the younger brother to recover, mentally even, from his captivity, and even then, he still could not swim. Replacements for his scales and fins and certain muscles were still in the works, and would hopefully pan out correctly. Winston slept minimally, and Mercy had him (and Hanzo) under constant surveillance and questioning. 

Genji took it in stride- as it were- and did all he could to keep his spirits somewhat up. It helped immensely when Ana's team came back from Egypt, and Genji met none other than Zenyatta. 

The omnic monk was nothing short of patient and kind: Two things Genji craved. (Hanzo had told McCree this was probably why Genji had been so insistent on clinging to the cowman. To which he was reminded that the term was Cowboy.) Regardless, Zenyatta went out of his way to spend mealtimes and training sessions with the young Shimada, and grew quite close to him. Whenever someone wasn't with Genji, the monk could be counted on to be found in the Med Bay bathroom. 

Hanzo had spent far less time with him, feeling a small tinge of jealousy that the robot, of all things, knew what to say more than he did. It was especially hard since he felt that it was his fault they were here in the first place. They spent no less than three hours a day together, but it didn't feel right between them. Genji was not the same energetic lad he had once been, and it hurt Hanzo to see it. The elder brother always wanted to say something to help, but would find that he didn't have the right. So instead, whenever his sibling and the monk held their little sessions, he stayed with Jesse, mostly. 

"We were hunting." 

Jesse paused in his motions, having been folding his laundry. The pile had been getting rather high, what with having a new mission near daily. It also occurred that Jesse found himself doing daily activities in his bathroom anymore, thus he stood by his bathroom sink, folding clean clothes. 

"Hmm?" 

"When Genji was stolen away. I- we had decided to go hunting. We had been told- we were warned that fishers were heavy in the area... Genji loved the fish in those waters." 

The cowboy nodded and sat down on the edge of the tub, watching Hanzo's face carefully. "I see." He said nothing when Hanzo carefully wrapped his fingers around his hand, seeking comfort. 

"I ignored them... we went anyway. He was... rather hard to say no to. Genji had insisted. The next thing we knew- I was caught in a net." The mer's shoulders shuddered but he went on. "It was a strange one- I remember. Some sort of strange energy. It was blue- I can't remember much more than that other than it hurt." McCree nodded, he was familiar with the feeling. Talon used those electric nets all of the time. They were made primarily for fishing and warding off sharks, but leave it to people like Talon to find a cruel use for it as well. 

"Genji somehow... he got me out. But his tail got tangled in it and... before I could get him out-" Hanzo wrung his hands together just above the water that lapped at his chest. "They took him instead of me." 

The gunslinger nodded once again, indicating his understanding. 

"I get it. An' that's why ya blame yourself." He sighed, taking his beloved Stetson off and plopped it onto the mer's head. "I know what it’s like ta feel responsible for something. It ain’t easy ta look at that kinda guilt right in the eye. But ya wanna know what I think?" 

Hanzo looked at him wearily, hiding his eyes under the brim of the beloved hat. 

“I don’t think yer responsible fer all of it. Sure, there were warnings an' all. But the thing is, Genji chose to save ya. And to be real honest, I think he deserves a lotta credit for his own choices. Aint no one can be blamed fer lovin' family.” 

Hanzo considered this for a moment, trailing his hands through the cooling water. McCree had shown him how to heat the water, but he always forgot to do it. 

“I see. Even so… I am the one who said it would be fine. And now... he is a different man. No longer the brother I once knew.” 

"Well that may be true. But everyone changes with time, darlin'. There's no exception t' the rule. Even yer a different man than before. I'm a different man than I was. But that's the great thing, we can all change fer better or fer worse, we can develop ourselves to fit where we need. We can choose what path we take, and it's only our decidin' that can make it happen." He winked. 

~*~ 

"-and I'm the one who begged him to go. It was my favorite fish and I just... kept pushing even though he said no. And when he got caught, I knew it was my doing. He told me to run, but he was in so much pain and I-" Genji let out a frustrated sight, resting his chin in the crook of his casted elbow. "So regardless of what he thinks, it's my fault he got trapped in the first place." 

Zenyatta hummed his mechanical gears and stayed silent, allowing both he and Genji's thoughts to clear before speaking. 

"While yes- you did ask him to go, he did not stop you. While he did not stop you, you were not caught. While he was caught, you did not listen to his plea to run." The monk said slowly. "While you did not listen, he was rescued and lost you. And with losing each other, you've both lost yourselves to your guilt. It is neither of your faults that the fishers chose to be there when you wanted, and it is not your fault that it was Talon who bought you from the fishers." 

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" The merman grumbled into his arm. 

"Let me finish. It is admirable to take on blame for a misfortune. However, it is rather silly to think that a single person could have prevented the flow of the universe. Regardless of how, or why, we cannot change what is." Zenyatta stated, nodding towards the mer in the bathtub. "We can only change what will be." 

Genji spoke nothing for a long moment, thinking on the Omnic's words. He churned them like a tide, digested them like a salmon and let them simmer. Perhaps... Zenyatta spoke reason. 

"But... will he think the same?" The mumble was quiet, but was picked up by Zenyatta. 

The omnic paused, and the feeling of a smile emanated from him. 

"You, and many, may not think so, but if it is McCree he is spending all of his time with, he may already be well on his way to thinking the same, if not already there." His machine-like laugh rumbled. "Jesse is possibly the most stubbornly set in his morals than anyone I've ever seen."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gosh!! I'm sorry this took so long, a lot of unfortunate events happened and I haven't been able to sit down in weeks. Please enjoy!


	8. When Something Feels Off, it is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second thoughts are had, and so are Nightmares

Life in the base grew to be normal for Hanzo and Genji. Hanzo was especially amused that he had Jesse practically wrapped around his little fin, and was equally tickled that Genji did as well. They could ask the man to do a backflip and he probably would. Maybe. Alright probably not a backflip, but anything within reason, he would do without a complaint. 

"Han, I have a meetin'. Ya gotta get off." A tired gunslinger was heard one morning, sitting on his bed with a rather sleepy merman's arms wrapped around his waist. This happened increasingly, since Hanzo had discovered that he could pull himself out of the bathtub and into McCree's bed. Somehow, it turned out that he really enjoyed blankets and pillows. It was equally endearing and frustrating to the cowboy, because while he enjoyed the surprisingly snuggly mer, he hated the wet quilts and sheets just as much. He would have to start stacking his quilts with towels. Maybe Angela had some.

"No." The blue-tailed menace mumbled, only holding the human tighter. "S'cold." 

"D'ya wanna borrow a blanket?" The mer Shook his head. He was wearing flan- wait a gosh darned second! When had he put on Jesse's favorite shirt? And how on earth had he learned how to in the first place? Immediately, he blamed Fareeha. She probably taught them how to put shirts on under guise of 'Getting too cold'. But they all knew it was just to pick on Jesse.

Pushing the frustration and confusion aside, our brave cowman persisted. "Hanzo, c'mon. I have t' get t' my meeting before Winston or Reinhardt show up to make sure I'm up." The very idea of it made the gunslinger shudder. 

"No." 

McCree weighed his options. Looking at his datapad that flashed the time. He had five minutes. Make or break time. 

"Alright, then I suppose yer gonna come with me." 

Ana Amari had seen and done many strange and terrific things in her lifetime. But a double-take was needed when she thought she saw Jesse McCree, local cowboy and sharpshooter, walk by the kitchen wearing a Merman in flannel, as a hat. Never had she doubted her vision before this moment. Jesse never went without his hat. Ever.

Her first take was confirmed when she looked down the hallway, and saw the seemingly nonchalant man give a wave without looking up from his digitalized document, and Hanzo's blue tail dragged on the ground behind them as he went like the scaled train of a dress. The elder agent laughed heartily, shaking her head and sipping her tea. 

The meeting itself was boring. Basically, to Jesse, it felt like a three and a half hour debrief for being a delivery boy. None of the details escaped his notice, it was written clearly on his datapad in front of him. But he didn't need Winston to re-read it to him. His vision was fine. He knew how to read. Obviously. 

Hanzo had fallen back asleep where he rested on McCree, and that was the only interesting thing happening in the entire room. A few snickers and chortles of laughter had sprinkled the room upon entry, but by now there was no such response. Even Lena's giggles had subsided. 

But somehow, Hanzo had picked up on every word of the meeting. 

The meeting adjourned, and McCree stood, careful to not jostle Hanzo, who simply blinked at him like he was an idiot. He blinked back. 

"Oh well g'dmornin' sleepin' beauty. How was yer sleep?" 

"Fine." The mer said with a sigh. "Can we go see Genji? I must speak with him about our arrangements for while you are gone. Six days was it?" 

"Yuppers. I shouldn' be surprised ya heard all that." Jesse laughed, adjusting Hanzo's arms around his neck while he walked towards the medical ward. "Yeah, I think Winston and Torb will have a big ol' tub set up fer ya. Both of ya should fit great. I'll only be gone a few days this time 'round." He chuckled. "No need to be all cynical." 

"I am not being cynical." Hanzo huffed. "I just like to be prepared, as it seems your teammates do not." 

"Whatcha mean, honeybee?" McCree asked with a frown. 

"This mission, even by my limited knowledge of your operations, is understaffed." The seaman huffed. He wasn't wrong of course, three people for a mission was unreasonably small. "I understand your numbers are not sufficient to accommodate such wishes, but would you not be able to set the mission for a different date?" 

The cowboy hummed. "I wish. But this delivery is real time sensitive, and the other mission goin on at the same time is critical as well, it'll save a lotta lives if it's successful. And maybe a new recruit or two." 

"Oh?" 

"Mmhm. Lovely lady by the name of Zaryanova. I think." Jesse nodded. "And if that all works, it'd be real good fer the cause. Plus, if I'm guessin' right, she's a right toughie." No- if he was guessing right, he knew for a fact she could probably bench him and the entire team with one arm. "So that team'll be in Russia, and I'll be headin' ta Australia. The air there isn't so bad anymore, so I should be fine." He was fairly certain. "It's all well and good with me, though. I don't like the cold so much." 

"I see." The merman swished his tail back and forth, the fins brushing the ground with each sweep. 

~*~ 

_He could remember it like yesterday._

_The day the agent thought he would die. It had been early morning, the mission had gone through the night and into the dusky rise of the sun. Just a mere year before Overwatch had taken it's fall. Not even a year, if he was to recall correctly. Only eight months, two weeks and four days before everything went to hell in a handbasket._

_He remembered. Reyes, screaming at him to keep awake-he had done well, just stay the hell awake. He remembered. The fearless leader calling Mercy for backup, shooting whoever dared near them. It seemed they had finished most of the job but for a few stragglers, for which he was thankful. The relief was barely felt when could still feel the warm, sticky remains of his limb seeping into his shirt and drowning him, however. But the pain- his own desperate screeching, that horrible sensation of helplessness that had seeped into his very soul. How his mentor's voice had only made him feel worse._

_He remembered._

_"How should I know how much blood he's lost?! His arm is fu- Now is NOT THE TIME FOR TWENTY QUESTIONS, ANGELA. GET OVER HERE NOW." It was odd to see Reyes so desperate for Mercy's help. He hated counting on the "other team"._

_Angela...Mercy had told him once- or at least he thought it was Mercy. Was it her? No one else would have cared to tell him about blood loss... but once someone had told him that copious amounts of blood could be lost without dying. Or maybe Winston had told him as a fun fact- or maybe the leader of Deadlock to scare him, because that was something they would have done. Whoever it was had said... what was it... that thirty percent. Thirty percent of blood could be lost and a human would be okay. But once it reached forty... what was it she had said? Yes- it had definitely been Mercy who had told him- the angelic like person had always told him things like that when he was hurt-_

_What had he been thinking of? Oh- yes. His arm..._

_His arm that was no longer a part of his being. That's right. He could feel Reyes above him, shouting senselessly into his communicator and practically laying his entire body's weight onto the stump. The memory was hazy, but he sure could remember the sharp throbs of his own heartbeat, making the pain wash over in repetitive waves. Only in his arm though-_

_And then... after what felt like hours, but could only have been minutes... He couldn't feel it anymore... Reyes was all that remained... But even that was dissipating. It was like floating, in the great blue abyss. Was it heaven? Was it Hell? Maybe some sort of limbo that he would never escape... just a big load of nothing. Maybe that was what hell was. A place he was sent to atone for his past sins-_

_**"WAKE UP, JESSE!"** _

The cowboy woke with a start, chest heaving and arm aching with phantom pain. He slowly opened his eyes, trying to remind himself that he was in his room, alone. 

Or maybe not so alone. 

"Hanzo!" He gasped, almost sitting up and smacking heads with the aforementioned male. The mer was over him, eyes full of concern and Jesse quickly realized that it may have been him who had yelled at him to wake up. Not Reyes. 

"Are you alright? I heard you... you sounded in pain..." Hanzo asked, voice laced with barely masked fright. McCree noted that he most likely could have woken the other by his thrashing, and hopefully not yelling. But perhaps so. 

"Yeah- m'fine. Ah- sorry Han, didn' mean ta scare ya." The gunslinger sat up carefully, and the mer moved so that they were sitting side by side instead. "Just a bad dream." 

"You were clutching your arm, Jesse." It was obvious that the Shimada didn't buy that for one hot second. He reached out with damp hands and held the joint where flesh met metal. Jesse hummed. 

"Yeah. I... it's just a lil' ghost pain is all. I'm fine, really." A deep breath. "Uh- d'ya want me t' carry ya back ta yer water?" 

"I- no. I'll stay here. If it's alright with you." There was a pause. "I'd rather keep close to you if you may have another... nightmare."  
McCree only nodded. 

"Does this... happen often?" Hanzo asked quietly, touching the gunslinger's arm carefully. Jesse shook his head. 

"Not so much anymore- I dunno what triggered it. Maybe..." 

"What?" 

Maybe he was crazy, but the sharpshooter felt uneasy about the mission tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heehee.


	9. Enjoy while it Lasts, 'cuz it won't

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo has seen things

Hanzo waited until McCree had fallen asleep again before he felt any sort of relaxation come back to him. The shout and sound of struggle had startled the mer from his half-slumber and he had been quick to come and see what was wrong with his friend. He had really thought perhaps they were under attack. Thankfully that was not the case. The human was simply haunted by dreams and wrestling sheets. 

Once Jesse's breath evened out once more, and his eyes were relaxed in sleep, Hanzo pulled himself up over the human. Holding himself up with his arms, he stared down at the man with gentle contemplation and felt a frown pull his lips. 

Shimada couldn't help but wonder at the man, as he slept. It was the most peaceful he had ever seen him and made the mer feel content. Gently he touched the agent's lips. They were dry, chapped, everything he had suspected. 

How he wished he could kiss them. 

The former Shimada was unsure of when that desire had even entered his mind, fairly recently though. In the first six or seven months, it had all been quite a genuine friendship oriented routine. But the last three or four- had It really been that long since meeting Jesse?- it had become more to the mer. He was fully aware of it, and wondered if it was genuine feelings or just a passing curiosity at play. Or if the other man was aware at all. 

If there was anything Hanzo had learned since he had crawled on land, it was that Jesse was a good friend, and was closer to him than anyone other than Genji had ever been. He wondered if even he had become closer than that. The cowman was always there for him and his brother, he was always there for his teammates. He was just... always there. There was no other way to describe it. And while Hanzo was fully aware of the fact that he had found and rescued McCree first, it felt like Jesse had helped him more. 

In the past, a future could only be seen on the run, from the clan, perhaps a less than peaceful death by their hands, or by the teeth of hunters. But now... now he was looking at time with his brother and with Jesse and Overwatch. Perhaps that was why he suddenly felt like he did about McCree. 

Not to mention the gifts and trinkets the former Blackwatch agent had given him. Not only did Hanzo constantly obsess over cleaning them and keeping them in the best conditions he could, but growing up, giving gifts had been a sign of affection. Perhaps Jesse didn't know it, but as of late, it had certainly set the merman's stomach a flutter- if that was the right saying. (He was pretty sure that's what Jesse had said) 

But without giving up absolutely everything he knew, without losing even more with his brother, he could not give into such fantasies. Especially if it was just a passing curiosity.  
Even then, he didn't know if Jesse felt the same way. And How could he? Hanzo was nothing but a fish-man without the ocean. 

He huffed, plopping down next to Jesse and curling up next to his human. He glared at the tip of Jesse's nose and his gills flared. He couldn't even offer the agent seashells and valuable gems from where he was. Unless he wanted the shiny hat ornaments around his tail back. Perhaps he could ask Zenyatta for help. He certainly seemed to help Genji with his feelings enough.

~*~ 

Early the next morning, Jesse woke up and blinked at the dark ceiling. It was too early for being awake, by his standards, but if his inner clock was right, which it always was, the aircraft was leaving in two hours. Sighing, he realized there was a warmth across his chest and legs and looked down to see that Hanzo had wrapped his tail around his legs and arms around his torso. Smiling, he pat the merman's head affectionately and carefully began to wrestle himself out of the vice grip that was a merman's. 

Finally, replacing himself with three pillows and a large piece of the comforter and his sarape, Jesse rolled out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom, intent on getting a shower in before leaving or before Hanzo needed the tub. Of course he knew the tank would be done by this afternoon, (hopefully) but he'd need to get his tail in some water before then anyway. It was bad for their scales or something. 

Quickly he threw his clothes on the sink and grabbed his favorite Almond and Spice shampoo from the shelf before climbing in. He thought he heard mumbling from the room over, but ignored it in favor of getting the water to a better temperature. Once it was warm enough (Scalding, by any normal person's perspective) he hummed a tune and began to wash. 

Only after lathering his hair up did Jesse feel like he was being watched. Turning, he yelped loudly as he saw Hanzo in the doorway, frozen in a mixture of surprise and curiosity. His mouth was opened as if the mer were about to say something but had seen Jesse's posterior before he could, and looked more rattled than a snake. 

Faster than one of his own speeding bullets, the gunslinger snatched the towel off of the side and wrapped it around his waist with his metal fingers, and simultaneously turned off the water with his flesh hand. A few nervous gulps of steamed air cleared his mind enough to speak again.

"Hanzo! I thought you were sleepin'-!" His voice cracked more than any 37 year old man's should have at this point, but he shoved that aside as an afterthought. 

"I just woke up- I apologize- did I interrupt... something...?" Hanzo was genuinely confused and intrigued by... whatever he was seeing. Humans were funny looking, yes, but this was new ground covered... so to speak. Usually swimming, he had seen humans in those strange skin colourings. He'd never seen anything like that before. 

"Ah- no It's alright... I just gotta, wash my hair... n'stuff." Jesse said awkwardly. Hanzo nodded, turning slowly, doing his hand walk back out of the room and once again to the bed. "I'll come uh- getcha when I'm done." 

The human took a deep breath and stared at the wall for a moment before putting his towel back and turning the water on. 

Yeah... it was waaaaaaaaay too early for all of this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's far too early for the poor cowman. Also I need to go to bed I have work tomorrow. Please let me know if somethings wrong, I'm very tired and I don't edit very well like that. Apologies in advance. Love y'all and tell me whatcha think!


	10. Secret Admirers are usually trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo is opening up and Jesse is good at attracting weird people

True to their words, A huge pool had been set up for the Shimada brothers. At Ten feet by ten feet, and seven feet deep the two Mer brothers had more than enough room to stay. Hanzo was vastly impressed that they had even filled the thing with salt water like from home. He had a lot of wonders on how they had done it. Perhaps a pump of some sort- or buckets? No- entirely too much work. 

After thanking them all profusely, the brother's were tossed (Literally, by Reinhardt) into the large tank. The cool water was refreshing and familiar, the room was more amazing than either could have imagined and Hanzo realized how much he missed swimming around. 

"Look, it isn' much, but should do." Torbjorn had said, crossing his arms. 

"We set up a pump so that sea water will get in and out, keeping it clean. There should be live fish coming in as well, so you should be covered for food as well." Winston had added. 

"It's perfect." Genji had grinned. 

After a few hours, a lot of goodbyes, and instructions for the water pumps in the tank, the two were left alone. Jesse had left early that morning with his team, and the rest had left for their own mission right after making sure they'd be okay. Now the two were resting on the edge of the tank with their arms over the edge, alone for the first time since being reunited. Zenyatta was all that remained on base, and was somewhere else in the building.

Then came the new problem: Genji couldn't swim. 

Despite the healed bones and insides and mended flesh, Genji's tail was still in shambles. The large sections of scales that were still gone, the fins in shreds, the missing ones- he couldn't do much just to stay right-side up. The pain of stressing his less-than-used arms was also a stumbling block, even with the omnic there to keep a healing tag on him. 

Hanzo was quick to help his brother steer and stay afloat by holding on to him. His already sensitive heart was quickly bruised again from the frustration building in Genji's face. But calming words and reassurances were all he could give. 

Finally, Genji grew tired and they went back to the edge, where Zenyatta had apparently showed up somewhere in that time. It was silent for quite a bit, but the green tailed merman broke it after an hour of sitting in silent contemplation. 

"Are you okay, brother?" He asked, looking to the elder of them. "You're... quiet." 

"I'm always quiet." Hanzo retorted, looking at his younger brother with a huff. His gills flared in the motion. 

"Yes but not brooding. Is it because Jesse is gone?" 

Hanzo sputtered, his blue tail splashing slightly with the response and accidentally inhaled water through his nose, instead of air, choking. 

"What-?!" 

"Please, Hanzo. It's not as if you haven't left his side more than an hour since I got here. And from what I understand, he knew you before then." Genji laughed, his tail leaving awkward currents under its flippant movements. "So- anything between you?" 

The elder rolled his eyes and huffed, "Apart from his human like ways? Or my Ocean dweller status? Or perhaps his allergy to raw fish?" 

"He has an allergy to raw fish?" 

"Yes, Isn't that strange?" 

"Yes, it is. But that's not what's stopping you from pursuing him? Does he snore?" 

"Well yes- but what does that matter?" 

"What is it that has stopped you from saying anything? You used to be very... ready to speak your mind." 

"I think you're confusing me with yourself. But I digress. You know how... taboo it is to be with a human." Was that the word Jesse had taught him? He wouldn't be sure unless he asked later. 

"Oh- that myth?" Genji rolled his brilliant green eyes. "We don't even know if it's true, there's nothing to give it merit." 

"May I ask what myth you speak of?" Zenyatta asked, looking between the two. 

"Our people think that if you kiss a human, you'll lose your powers and become human too. Until the human dies and gives back your stuff." The younger said before his brother could speak. "It has no merit, even though it applies to our people in relationships with each other- no one has been with a human for hundreds of years." 

Zenyatta hummed. "I see." 

"You know very well that every Myth has merit. I cannot bring myself to just... even if there's a chance... I don't know if I want to take it." Hanzo sighed, resting his head in his arms. "But what does it matter? You have far bigger problems than I. Are you- alright?" 

"I would like to think so." Genji said with a grin. "I really am happier than ever. And yeah- it might be because of everything that preceded this all... but I'm back with you- and we have new friends and a new home! And- you're safe from the clan. I'm just glad we're back together. And I- I'm really glad to see you so content with Jesse too. Not to mention everyone here is super nice! Doctor Ziegler even said she could probably fix up my whole tail!" 

"How does she plan to replace your scales?" 

"Diamond, she said. Whatever that is? She said something about how our scales have the equivalent to their... strength? And...? Denssss....y? And she said pro- prosth...? A fake tail set like Jesse's arm!" 

The monk chuckled. "Density, and Prosthetic." He explained, flicking his finger and letting the healing orb come back to him to recharge. "I have seen her and Torbjorn's designs for them as well, quite marvelous." 

"Human words are strange." Hanzo nodded. "I hope it works. I really do." 

"Well I can't have you swimming me around all the time. Who will hunt?" 

"Jesse will have to. When he gets back." The green-tailed mer laughed and gave a friendly push to his brother. 

"I suppose we'll just have to wai-" 

A loud alarm split the air as Athena started spewing words in urgent tones, making the two brothers slap their hands over their ears. 

**"Panic Signals located. Emergency aircraft deploy. Destination: Lake Eyre, Australia. Defense shields active, Agents unresponsive. Panic Signals located. Emergency aircraft-"**  
Genji looked to Hanzo. "Austria? Isn't that where-" He shouted in question. 

"Genji it said Australia." Zenyatta said calmly. "And yes, that is Jesse's team." 

~*~ 

_"-wood!? Jesse- can you hear me?"_

Vaguely, the gunslinger could remember twisting his body to grab Lucio in a firm hold and basically throwing the kid across the room, but after that there was nothing else. Black and the ringing in his ears perhaps, but that wasn't much information to go on. 

Groaning, his eyes fluttered open and tried to look around. He could see concrete, otherwise obscuring his vision from literally everything else. Even that was too blurry to tell what colour it really was- though he suspected grey- like everything else here. It pressed heavily into his chest and arms, and the human realized that part of the heavy ceiling had fallen on top of him. 

Lucio was still there. 

He tried to heave a breath, to respond. But only harsh coughing was heard and pain blossomed anew in his torso. The taste of blood filled his mouth instantly, and he knew he was in trouble. 

"Eastwood! I hear you!" The audio medic's voice was muffled, probably behind the concrete slabs and unable to reach Jesse at all with his lack of mobility. "I hear someone coming, just... just don't... I activated the panic- help is coming!" 

The cowboy wondered what he was trying to say, as none of his words made sense to his ringing ears. But he could not ask, he could not even twitch his arm to indicate that he had heard. 

Blood was flowing freely down his forehead and down to his ear. He tried to focus on that instead of the pain, but was unable to. The sharp squeal of ringing resounded through his veins and muscles. Every fiber of his being screamed in agony, while his voice was forcibly silent. Only wet coughs and dry heaves accompanied his unsteady heartbeat. 

He was alive. 

Lucio's voice once again cut through his thoughts and brought the elder agent to a full on panic. 

"NO- YOU'VE DONE ENOUGH- GET BACK!!- MCCREE CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" The musician's voice was accompanied by the sound of a clanking leg with a normal one, and what sounded like clinking chains. 

"McCree? You mean-" A strong australian accent suddenly spoke. "Ya mean THE Jesse J McCree? With the biggest bounty on his head we ever seen? Sh- HOG WE GOT ANO-"  


McCree gasped, trying to get more air, but was unable. The Concrete above him impeded all breathing, crushing his lungs. He couldn't feel his legs- was his arm still attached? Aw man- Lucio was seeing all this- And he couldn't help him with those bomber maniacs- 

The groan of moving concrete filled his ears. McCree blinked his eye open- it seems the other was either sealed shut with blood, or swollen- and saw Bastion- bless that omnic's beautiful heart and strength, lifting the slab. Lucio was on the ground next to him, grabbing onto the cowboy's legs and pulling him out with- someone's help. 

"Eastwood! Can you hear me?!" Lucio shouted over Bastion dropping the large weight once the agent was out. McCree blinked up to see two other figures- extremely blurry though they were- standing with them. The smaller one, that currently looked like a stick figure with his head on fire, was yanking something from his bags, while (Jesse was pretty sure) a potbelly pig accompanied him. 

A gurgle was his best effort, Jesse could not offer more before he saw black once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> e7 e 
> 
> Welcome more characters. I wasn't sure if this was where I wanted to have the story go- but now I've got a whole timeline set! I think we'll only have a few chapters left and that'll be good as gold! Thanks for reading my friends! <3


	11. A current cannot be changed by will alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hanzo finally gets to see Jesse again, but not the other way around

"Keep his head and shoulders elevated, I have to stop the bleeding in his leg." Lucio ordered, voice trembling. "Don't let him move if he thrashes, just try and keep him still." 

"You've said that five times now, mate. I got it. Anythin else we can do ta help?" 

Lucio pressed the remains of Jesse's sarape against his bleeding appendage, staining it a deeper crimson and seeping through to his fingertips. Any of the gold pattern that had once adorned it was gone. "My biggest concern is his head- there's some serious damage goin' on there and I can't... the music should help keep it from getting worse, only if we keep him still … but I can't get it better without better equipment. It's too severe. So we'll just have to heal what we can for now." 

"Crikey." The skinny man breathed, looking down at the man who's head and shoulders were in his lap. He looked like a man who didn't know how he ended up where he was. The other man, much larger, much scarier by many means, looked as if he was used to such events yanking him every which direction. 

Junkrat and Roadhog- Lucio recognized the names before the faces. Two incredibly wanted men, though their bounty wasn't near as large as his friend who currently lay at the bottom of an emergency aircraft, but it was a hefty price nonetheless. The two had explained that they meant to rob the place for 'snackfood money' and they had not anticipated anyone being inside, especially the 'damn coolest guy to ever stand up to the suits'. 

And here they were, helping keep a fellow outlaw alive. Apparently. 

"Landing in five, loves! Keep yourselves braced." Lena called back from the front. Bastion, who had Jesse's hat on his robotic head, beeped in an affirmative. 

True to her word, they landed quickly and were met with Zenyatta who was ready with a medical bed and supplies for life support. 

"Our teammate's mission was successful, and Mercy will be here within twenty four hours. She is coming ahead of the rest of the team." The monk explained, immediately tagging Jesse with an orb of harmony. The cowboy's face remained blank, blood being the only colour in his cheeks. The orb jingled merrily, keeping it's golden stream carefully consistent. 

"Great to hear. I've got him stable for now but-" 

"But?" 

"I can't keep him that way for long. I'm sure you can help a lot, and I healed a lot of his flesh wounds... But he's-" Lucio took an unsteady breath, closing his eyes. "Zen- what do I do if- what do I tell Hanzo and Genji-?" 

By now the two were rushing Jesse J McCree to the medical bay, the musician skating just ahead to get there as quickly as possible and make sure doors were opened. Zenyatta made sure to keep his tag strong and followed closely behind. Their conversation disappeared around the corner with them.

Lena watched them go, Bastion beeping sadly beside her, The new guys, Junkrat and Roadhog, stood closely behind them. The three watched the omnic reach up to grab the hat, the junkers seemed more filled with trepidation than curiosity towards the movement. Tracer smiled carefully and put and hand on his moss covered arm, stopping him. 

"Give it to him when he wakes up. He'll be glad to have it back from ya, love." She sighed, watching as the hat plopped back on the omnic's head. "Guess we need to tell our special guests." She sighed. "Hanzo won't be happy." 

The four started towards the pool room. 

"Who's Hanzo?" Junkrat finally asked.

~*~ 

Seven hours, a migraine for many, angry shouting from and to new recruits, a newfound discovery of mermen (again),and a wheelchair ride later, found Hanzo sitting next to a hospital bed. Clean bandages were wrapped around his human's head, arms and torso. His metal arm was off and to the side on a table and the stump that was left of his arm rested on a pillow. Angela explained that Jesse always hated feeling his arm against his side, and even if he wasn't waking soon, she wouldn't want him to feel that. And that point his arm was in such bad shape that Torb would have to fix it as soon as he got back- due to it's mechanics being unique to it's owner. 

Oh yes, he wasn't waking soon. That little tidbit.

Hanzo squeezed the cowboy's hand with his own. A wet towel was draped over his tail in the chair he sat in next to Jesse's bed, and held fast as if he would lose the man in front of him from the slightest relent in grip. 

"You weren't supposed to get hurt, Jesse." He said, letting his head fall by the gunslinger's shoulder. "You are not supposed to be like this-" 

Of course no response came. He was in a- what had Angela called it? A coma? Something like that. He wouldn't wake. Not for a long time. But the doctor had said that maybe Jesse could hear him. Maybe he could listen to his words. She told him it was just another form of sleep, that Jesse was just sleeping deeply so that he could heal. Hanzo didn't believe her for a moment. 

Of course he looked peaceful, as if he was truly asleep. Perhaps the mer would believe he was, if not for the silence. Jesse wasn’t snoring, and that was sure sign that he was not in a normal slumber. The beeping that resounded about the room was a poor substitute. 

"Lucio told us, with the strange Junkers. They saved you... they said. But you saved Lucio, is what they told me. Bastion still has your hat..." The mer sighed, rubbing Jesse's thumb with his own. The other team would be showing up tomorrow, even though Angela had arrived so much earlier. He wondered how she managed to do so. 

"I will never forgive you if you don't wake up. I need you to wake up." He finally told the cowman. "Perhaps you need to heal, but you cannot do that forever, Jesse McCree." Hanzo muttered slowly, moving his thumb in circles around the human's own. 

The silence was louder than any of the monitor's beeping could be. 

~*~ 

Everyone visited at least once a day. Hanzo only left for an hour at a time each day to eat and/or swim a bit to keep in healthy shape. Genji would often accompany him, seeing as his own prosthetic surgeries had been put off in favor of keeping Jesse alive. (such were the disadvantages of being a technically illegal organization) Zenyatta, Lucio and Angela were the only three who came half as much as the elder Shimada stayed. 

"Brother, you have forgotten to eat again." Genji said, entering the room. Hanzo looked up from his carefully memorized study of McCree's face. The younger was sitting in a wheelchair with a wet towel over his tail. His hair had been freshly dyed a horrendously bright green, it seemed. 

"You coloured your hair again." Hanzo sighed, a small smile pressing at his features. It would have been more endearing if not for the unchecked baggage under his eyes. "Who helped you?" 

"Lucio did. He's really good at it, I guess. And apparently he has a kind of deal with a hair colouring... brand? He said it's less harsh on my hair." Genji let his fingers play with the neatly dyed green atop his head.

"He does have yellow hair." 

Genji rolled over to his brother and parked just beside him, looking between the human and mer. 

"Anything new today?" he inquired softly, putting his hand over Hanzo's, which was holding Jesse's. Hanzo shook his head tiredly. 

"Nothing. No new responses, he's relying soley on these... machines. Miss Ziegler said that she fixed everything she could, but it may not be enough to fix his... head." He breathed carefully, controlled. He could not break down again, for he was sure he had not the energy anymore. "Am I foolish to hope?" 

"Not at all, Hanzo. Hope is what gets us through the hardest things." 

"Did Zenyatta tell you that?" 

"No- I figured that out on my own. Time in a prison does that to you." Genji shrugged. "Hanzo, you know that I love you and I want only the best for you. But what will you do if-" 

"Please, Genji." The elder merman's hand tightened around his human's. "He is my human... I cannot lose him. Not now... not when everything was falling into place." He glanced to his brother between unkempt strands of hair. "I can't lose someone else again." 

The green haired brother's face became more gentle at that. "I understand. I just... want to be... prepared." 

"I know. Miss Ziegler said much the same." Hanzo finally admitted. "I do not wish to accept such a fate for Jesse but... it is..." He looked back to the cowboy's face, his eyes shimmering with emotion. "Not my decision." 

Genji nodded, leaning back in his chair. 

"Such are the waters."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poor hanzo ;; You'll figure it out  
> Also I had NO time to edit, so if you catch something, please let me know ';;;;;;


	12. 'What if's' and 'Should Have's' will eat you forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People visit Jesse, missing how things were.  
> Hanzo learns things and has a very hard decision to make o3o

It was not uncommon for there to be other members of Overwatch in Jesse's room. Of course, more often than anyone: Angela. Of course she was his doctor by professional means, but she was always talking to the unconscious agent, insisting to the others that he could most likely hear what they said to him. Most of the team took that to heart quite seriously.

Lucio came nearly daily, telling him about his day. Hana, Tracer and Winston were often seen together in there, playing a game or talking about the weather as if the gunslinger would respond. He never did, but they didn't let that bother them. 

Surprisingly (or perhaps not) Jamison Fawkes, one of the two newest members came quite often. Sometimes with Lucio, but more often by himself. He would talk with Jesse, and it seemed he was used to no responses because he would just keep going. Roadhog (Mako or something, he didn't talk much) never came in with him, but occasionally he was outside the door. Knitting, of all things. It looked lumpy and less than professional, but it did resemble a blanket. When asked, all he would say is "Ana." And that was it. 

Jack Morrison didn't come as often as anyone else, and was awkwardly silent whenever he did. But Hanzo had watched him pat Jesse's head or shoulder and say 'good luck, kid' more than once. It was an odd endearment. McCree was not a child, so to the mer it made no sense. Maybe he just didn't know what else to say. The two mermen wondered on their relationship, as Jesse had never said much about the old soldier. Sometimes Ana Amari came with him, and it was less odd for the soldier, it seemed. She did most of the talking.

Reinhardt came to visit a lot. Nearly twice a day, if he wasn't on a mission. Once before lunch and once after dinner. He would stay for a good solid hour at least, and told wonderful fairy tales that would have any child in awe. As it was, Genji loved them. He especially loved the ones with dragons. Hanzo would be hard pressed to admit that he liked them as well. His favorite was the one Reinhardt had called 'the dragon brothers'. A tale that reminded him both painfully and nostalgically of he and Genji's relationship. 

The one person that didn't visit so often, to other's surprise, was Fareeha. From what the newer members heard, she and Jesse had been at least good friends. But she had visited only twice total, and both times with her mother, who did all of the talking. 

~*~

Hanzo had fallen asleep next to Jesse again. Angela chuckled and clucked her tongue at the way he had become so clingy towards the cowboy. Sighing she checked the charts, a gradual decrease in vitals was evident, as usual. It was extremely slow, and she treated it accordingly. The doctor's heart felt heavy as lead. This was not uncommon for patients hurt badly, as Jesse had been, on a mission. What was uncommon for such serious injury was that they woke ever again. As Jesse was doing, it was like they just slowly and steadily gave up. 

A chill went up and down her spine, making her blood feel cold and stale. Her darker thoughts were interrupted when there was a small knock at the door. The good doctor looked up to see Ana, out of uniform but still just as graceful, standing in the doorway with her daughter. It seemed the young woman was equally distressed, if her carefully controlled expressions said anything. 

"How is he?" Ana whispered. 

Hanzo's eyes fluttered, but he did not move. 

"Nothing has changed. I fear-" Dr. Ziegler chewed her lip, choosing words carefully. "I fear that he may not wake without some form of miracle." The blonde looked to the sleeping gunslinger, his skin had lost it's sunny glow and his hair was devoid of it's usual wave. His closed eyes looked like bruises, as if he had not slept for years. He looked like a stranger, with all of that combined with his lack of usual attire and grin. His arm had been replaced, a small hope of saving him the pains of it when he woke up. The hope would be lost if he did not. 

"I see." Fareeha said softly, sitting on the bed to the opposite side of the bed where Hanzo held the agent's limp hand. 

"Is his coma medical induced?" Ana whispered, pulling Mercy to the side where Hanzo slept, trying in vain to make the conversation hurt less for her daughter. Perhaps when she was six, it may have worked. 

"No. He simply will not wake. And we have tried, his injuries are not...they are not healing at a good rate, if at any rate at all... He is... essentially dying. His body is slowly shutting down." 

Ana was upset, and it was clear despite her attempts to clench her jaw and nod to hide it. 

Fareeha chose to pretend she could not hear and smiled at Jesse's prone form, taking his stub of an arm and rubbing it gently. She decided to speak to the man. Hanzo did not twitch. And with that, she knew he was awake. 

"Hello Jesse." She smiled, gently holding his arm. "I'm sorry I haven't been here in a while, we had a mission. If you had been there, I'm sure it would have been far more enjoyable. Undercover has... never been my strong suit, has it? It's more your thing. 

I half expected you to be up and around by the time we got back- you always have been before." The woman sighed, resting her back on the wall at the head of Jesse's bed. "I remember when I was a child, you know. You would come back from those awful missions... I could tell How bad they were when I saw your eyes. They always had the faintest red in them on those hard ones. I was too young to understand though." 

She grinned, looking down at the painfully still man. "But you always were ready to give me a big hug and put your silly hat right on my head, smiling like you had just gotten the world handed to you. Mama always took it off and put it back on yours... she said I was too young to be a cowboy yet. I think it was because she thought you had lice." She saw Ana laugh into her hand to hide it. Angela looked like she was on the verge of tears, but also laughing. "She didn't know that you always smelled so nice. Well... most of the time. I suppose after a mission you smelled less pleasant." A small, sad chuckled fell into a silent frown as she brushed lifeless strands out of Jesse's closed eyes. 

"You're worrying all of us, _Jaysi_." Was what followed. "You must wake up soon." She let go of his arm. 

At a glance, she could see the tears that sparkled in the mer's eyelashes. But they never fell. It would be an ugly thing, to fall like tears. Fareeha Amari knew this well. And Maybe, she thought, that was why she didn't come until now.

So she stood, squeezing Jesse's shoulder and then went to join the other two women before they left the room and closed the door. 

Hanzo sat up after their footsteps had faded. He blinked rapidly and looked at Jesse, glad to be alone again. He had heard more than enough for that day and much to think on. 

~*~ 

It was the middle of the night, Hanzo and Genji had fallen asleep in their tank, after Mercy had all but booted the elder Shimada out of the med-bay. He needed sleep, proper sleep. Hanzo begrudgingly agreed. Perhaps because he felt he needed a moment away. Perhaps he did not want to be there when the beeping stopped. (Or perhaps because Genji and Angela had practically forced him back into the water) 

He was unsure. 

As with every mer, the two remained in motion the entire time they slept underwater, and therefore the older brother had his younger riding along on his back. Occasionally Hanzo and Genji would bump into the side of the tank, waking them long enough to start a new circle and then go back to sleep. In the ocean, walls were not the biggest problem with sleep. But times and environments had changed. 

It was precisely the fourth time Hanzo bumped into the wall that he jerked awake, flailing as if possessed to get right side up once again. A small yell escaped him and he looked around wildly, whatever dream he was having rushing to him like a long forgotten memory. Genji jerked awake at this, (nearly falling off of his brother.) and shouted in alarm while he hugged his brother's middle so that he didn't fall. 

"Hanzo what is I-?!" He was stopped abruptly by Hanzo pushing the both of them to break the surface above, forcing both of them to catch their breath in through their mouths above water. 

"Genji- I know you don't believe the myth... I'm not even sure I do!-- but what if it worked?" His eyes were wild, his hair sticking to his face and neck in odd patterns. It would have amused the younger Shimada if he had known what on earth had caused it. 

"Hanzo what-" 

"It may not work- but what do we lose if I try?" 

"Hanzo-" 

"I need to go see him and try as soon as possible, where is Zenyatta-" 

"HANZO." 

This stopped the half-asleep ramblings of Hanzo Shimada at three forty two in the morning. Genji had taken his brother's shoulders, holding him in place and looking him straight in his identically coloured eyes. 

"Please explain what you're trying to say, brother. I do not understand." The scolding was soft, but no less firm than proper. "Do you speak of the stupid 'kiss a human be a human'? What about it?" 

"Genji- we were taught that we would turn human because they take our powers- they steal our healing. Genji if I gave it to Jesse-" 

"Stop there- just for a moment. I understand that you love Jesse- don't give me that look it's obvious- but are you willing to just give up everything, our chances of going back to the ocean?" 

"Love or no, Jesse would do the same for either of us." Hanzo said firmly. "Who am I not to do the same?" Then more softly, he sighed. "We could not go back anyway. The clan blamed me for your death, I have been running since... you know this. Additionally your dislike of the oce- nevermind. And while I trust the good doctor to be able to fix your tail, I do not trust our people to welcome someone who has been with humans so long." He bit his lip. 

"And if it doesn't work?" Genji said, an expression of concern filling his features. "Hanzo if it doesn't-" 

"Then there is nothing to lose, yes? If I can help him as much as he's helped m- us, it would be worth giving up these useless scales. I do not want to lose him if I can help." 

"What if it isn't necessary? What if he wakes without your help? The good doctor may still be able to-" 

Hanzo shook his head. 

"Miss Angela said that he was dying... albeit slowly. She did not know I could hear." The explanation was rushed, swift. "I cannot ponder over 'what ifs', Genji." The elder mer was at a near whisper in his words. "I cannot lose someone like this again." 

"Like this?" Genji asked, head tilting to the side in confusion. 

"I could have helped you, and I did not. I can help Jesse, or at least try, and I will not make the same mistake again." Hanzo looked to Genji, moving his hands so that they rested on his brother's shoulders. 

"Hanzo, what if it makes you human and he still does not heal? What then?" 

"Then I will regain this form when he-" A gulp of air. " When he dies." 

"And if it does work? Even with a fraction of our life force, he will die one day, Hanzo. What will you do then? What will we do?" Genji took a deep breath. "Hanzo. I- I don't want to be alone." 

The realization hit Hanzo, that he would be leaving his brother to fend for himself. It was selfish, it was a hard choice for Hanzo to make. It had seemed so... brilliant, in his sleep. But now it seemed a fool's plan. The elder shimada found himself blinking rapidly, warm water mingling with the cold leftover from the tank. 

"What do I do?" He asked his brother, staring at him as if the green-haired mer had all of the answers. "I keep one, I lose one. I cannot have both, can I?" His breath came short, his lungs expanding and shrinking rapidly with his shallow inhales. "Why can it never be so simple?" 

"Brother- I am sorry... I... that was selfish of me-" The younger brother tried to amend. "Looking different will not separate us-" 

"No- you are right... I cannot leave you to fend for yourself-" Not like this... when Genji couldn't hunt or even swim on his own. But if not now, when? No one knew how long was left for the decision to even be made, let alone an action taken.

"Brother. I am just as conflicted as you. I did not think before speaking. A bad habit, I suppose." Genji let go of Hanzo's shoulders, leaning back against the tank quietly. "Fear does not become us, the unknown is not certain and will not be until we explore it. That's what Zenyatta told me. If you choose to go forward with this, I will speak to Miss Angela. I will join you. We can have both, if we try." 

"But... your tail..." 

"Perhaps the plans for the prosthetics would be simpler if I were human?" Genji grinned, looking at his tail that could barely swing back and forth anymore. "Perhaps this is a chance for something new. A new beginning, a new future. And maybe... maybe it will be easier. We cannot return to the ocean. But we can stay here. It is like the story that mister Reinhardt told us. Where the prince rescued the princess from the tower and woke her with a kiss." The green mer grinned. "You'll be his knight in shining scales, brother. And I will just have the burden of kissing someone of my choice." The blue mer frowned. 

"Of course you'd make this into a joke." 

"Not a joke brother, a possibility." Genji winked. 

Silence fell between them as Hanzo thought to himself. The ideas, the worries, the painful truths, Genji's words, McCree's words, Zenyatta's words, Angela's diagnostics, Fareeha's story, so many memories that led to here... they all spun like a whirlpool, swirling and twirling in a mad storm of emotional discord. It was nearly unbearable. Reality only returned when words resounded outside of his head once more. 

"And have you decided, what you wish to do?" The familiar voice of an omnic monk said from behind them, floating in the doorway. 

Hanzo looked back at Zenyatta, who had apparently been listening in the entire time, and then back to Genji. 

"I have."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think he should choose ;p Let me know~  
> At this point I wish I had an editor *Sobs*  
> So I have work for all next week and the week after, therefore I have no idea when the last two chapters will be up.  
> We'll see I guess


	13. If ya can't walk, crawl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes things don't work out like you hoped.

It had turned out severely underwhelming, the decision. 

"I shall go see if Dr. Ziegler is awake. Doubtful at this hour, and she deserves her rest." Zenyatta had said when they passed through the door. Genji grinned at the omnic and pulled his metal hand off of the wheelchair, playfully kissing it. 

"Thank you, Zenyatta. You're the best." He hummed. The omnic didn't seem fazed by this and simply chuckled, patting Genji's head before leaving to find Mercy. 

"You're certainly cheery today, Genji." Hanzo mumbled, rolling his eyes. "It's good to know you haven't changed so much after all." 

"Some things are too good to give up." 

The two brothers started wheeling themselves forward and towards the room where McCree was still in his long rest. The younger brother allowed his brother the closer seat by his human's whole arm, where the blue mer took his hand and entwined their fingers. 

"Hello again." He said softly. "I- I..." A sudden wave of nerves. What if McCree didn't want him? What if Jesse didn't accept Hanzo as a human, and what would he do if both were true? Where would he go? Wha- 

Genji's hand on his shoulder stopped his doubts from floating about in his thoughts. That seemed to happen a lot lately. Hanzo looked back at his sibling with wide eyes and gulped.  


And that is how he ended up here. 

Less than a full second later, Hanzo had found himself pulling himself up next to the patient and pressing his lips firmly against a chapped pair that belonged to his cowboy. There was no response, there was no miracle of sudden consciousness. There wasn't even the overwhelming pain that the clan had taught them about when warning them about humans. If any feelings were had on the matter, it was merely disappointment. Crippling and agonizing disappointment that made Hanzo's chest seem to implode on itself with it's severity, but disappointment nonetheless.

Pulling away from the human, Hanzo's heart fell. There was no change in the monitor or in Jesse's features. He was still pale, still lifeless and still dying. As far as first kisses went, this had to be a record for worst of all. 

Slumping back, Hanzo's wheelchair rolled back just enough to bump into the wall beside him. His face was nothing short of... exhausted. As if the lack of response was enough to steal his own energy away. 

Genji carefully put his hand on his brother's back, eyes downcast towards the sleeping face of Jesse J McCree. 

"I'm sorry, brother. It was worth a try. Perhaps it only works if they're awake?" 

Hanzo nodded and stayed silent for the rest of their visit, the ten minutes until Zenyatta returned, and then the hour where the omnic and green mer talked to McCree as if he were awake. Hanzo knew it was supposed to make him feel better. But he didn't tell them that it, in fact, made him feel worse.  


It was simply a reminder that his human would never wake. 

~*~ 

The two went back to their tank. Mutually disheartened and feeling their lack of sleep. 

Swimming back and forth didn't help the current of thoughts going through Hanzo's mind. He may have been beyond exhaustion, but he couldn't rest. But he couldn't stop. Genji needed sleep just as badly and the elder knew that he would swim back and forth the entire ocean for his brother. A tank, in perspective, was nothing.

It hadn't worked. Jesse was still laying in that white room, still connected to all of those strange machines, and still not speaking a word. After all of that superstition and worry and doubt, it hadn't worked. His people had been wrong. More importantly, he had been wrong. Hanzo Shimada had been wrong. 

It shouldn't have bothered him as much as it did. He had been wrong before, of course. (Never to be admitted aloud) But this time it felt more dire, and he realized that the only time he had been this wrong... had felt so awful about being wrong, was when he had lost Genji to the nets. 

He felt the said mer's gills moving steadily against his shoulder blade, below where the younger brother's chin was resting. Genji was alive again- to Hanzo he had been dead for so long. The elder brother had thought himself alone in the world, taking the blame for his brother's death and being exiled from his own clan because of it. In a way, he supposed, he _had_ swam the entire ocean back and forth for his brother. Just not in a very admirable way.

He had been wrong. 

With an irritated and long-suffering sigh, Hanzo finally closed his eyes for rest. He felt the less than gentle pull of sleep taking him away, and was surprised to feel like he was falling. As if he had forgotten how to swim... how to use his gills, how to breathe.

And so he let the darkness take him. 

~*~ 

His dream was the memory of Genji again, his lungs really felt like they were burning, and his brother was screaming his name, fading into the distance. Multiple voices echoed his name, their tones shouting in anger and disgust. He scrabbled at the nets, his fingers burned with the electricity that they emitted, and that burn spread through his body to his every cell. From his ears to his toes... But he had to free him, had to get his brother back. Had to... had...

The shimmering image of a large man, a familiar man entered his peripheral vision, shiny ornaments glittering. The sun reflected off of them and cause light to scatter under the water and shine into Hanzo's eyes, making them sting. Was he crying? No- he never did-

The man was getting closer, and the mer nearly had a heart attack to realize that he had a giant hook and it was coming for him. He tried to swim away, avoid the thing, the man approaching had a mask on and the mask eyes seemed to burn into his soul with it's lack of expression. A pig snout- was that...?

"Get up."

"He's waking up! Go tell him!" A familiar voice shouted through the blurry remnants of the dream. Hanzo's eyes blinked several times, still unable to make out shapes around and above him. A strange brown and yellow blur was above him and something was lightly smacking his face. 

Another blur was next to him, bright green and he could only assume that it was Genji. 

"Come on love! It's time to wake up, we've been trying to wake you up for hours! Roadie had to use his hook to get you out of there!" Lena Oxton's voice chirped, and it must have been her hand smacking his cheek. A disgruntled 'hmph' huffed out and the mer was quite positive that Roadhog was there.

"Lena It's only been forty minutes." Another voice said- easily recognized as Fareeha Amari's. For some reason she sounded, sad? Happy? Had something happened? Is that why they were waking him? Was Jesse-

Hanzo's eyes finally opened and he could see, still blurry all things given, but he could tell where he was and who was with him. It wasn't clear but he suspected there was something shimmering on Fareeha's face in the light. Had she been crying? He also could see that he had a large, knitted blanket thrown over his body and it was soft, but for some reason not very warm. Perhaps the floor beneath him was too cold? That had never affected him before, so doubtful. 

"Brother, what do you remember?" Genji asked, face suddenly flooding his line of sight. Hanzo blinked some more and furrowed his brow, feeling his brother's hands on either side of his face, squishing his cheeks and causing his lips to pucker a bit. 

"I- we had just come back from visiting Jesse... and I fell asleep..." The elder brother frowned, why did his tail feel so light? Maybe it was because he was laid out on the ground. His whole body felt light for that matter... almost to the point of feeling completely wrong. He must have been sleeping rather hard. 

"Yes- alright. You remember why we visited Jesse?" Why did his fins itch? They didn't have nerves in them he shouldn't have felt anything. 

"We tried to wake him up?" Hanzo said slowly. "It didn't work." There was a throbbing pain down the center of his tail, not prominent, but easy enough to notice when he paid attention to it. And his scales seemed to stick to the metal floor when he tried to shift around. What was going on? 

"Hanzo. Stop pretending to not notice." The Amari soldier said, a small smile on her lips. "You gave us quite the scare, when we came in and you were close to drowning. If Roadhog hadn't been passing by when Lena found you, you'd be dead." 

He looked down at the blanket. Two thin, long bumps lined out in front of him in front of the blanket, like driftwood, and out of the end, poked two feet. Toes and everything. 

"I-" 

"It worked Hanzo." Fareeha said, looking at the elder Shimada carefully. "I don't know what you did, but it worked. Jesse is awake... he's... healed." At Hanzo's look of disbelief, she chuckled and clucked her tongue. "Mercy was nearly out of her mind with happiness, Hanzo. Jesse is... I was with him not long ago. He awaits your arrival."

Tracer yanked the two mers and the taller woman into a hug and cheered with a grin. "He's up! Jesse's awake and you've got legs? And it's all very weird and doesn't make a bit of sense, but Jesse's awake and he's waiting for you to come see him again! Lucio's getting you both some clothes and food, by the way. He'll be back any second. Emily went with him to get you some shirts and socks from Jesse's room too!" 

"Both-?" 

His vision shot to Genji and he saw that he was also draped in a blanket. His was far more lumpy and... quite frankly, ugly, but he held it tight around himself. It took a moment, but Hanzo recognized it as the blanket that Mako had been working on. He must have finished it. The younger brother grinned at his brother, holding the blanket tighter. 

"I think it was Zenyatta." Genji mumbled. At first Hanzo was incredibly confused, when had Zenyatta suddenly had the power to turn a merman into a huma- 

Oh. 

"You really think that was it?" He asked. Genji shrugged. 

"Unless you think being around you did it, I can't really come up with anything else." 

"You flirted with a robotic monk." Hanzo said slowly, looking evenly at his younger sibling. "And you were turned human?" 

"Yeah! Well... Omnic. I guess it just proves that Zenyatta was right about the whole idea that omnic's are a lot like humans! They certainly have the capacity to take powers, it seems. Maybe it will help him in his fight against discrimination! It's all so very exciting, But enough about that, you have someone to visit." The younger brother smirked. 

Lucio was kind enough to show the two how to properly put on boxers and pants. The two already knew how to put on shirts of course, courtesy of McCree's flannel collection. The younger brother's legs were just as shredded and deformed as his tail had been, and would still need prosthetic additions, as they had guessed. What they hadn't anticipated was how thin and atrophied Hanzo's legs would be. Whether it be from lack of swimming or because he just didn't use those muscles to do so, he could hardly stand on his own, let alone walk. But he didn't need to walk, at least not now.

As soon as he was in his wheelchair again, he was zooming down the hallways towards the medical ward. 

His entry wasn't stopped or contested. Hanzo wheeled into the room, at a speed which caused the chair to tip onto one tire at the turn, and he pushed loudly through the double doors that led to Jesse's room. He nearly ran into the bed in the center of the room before he stopped. 

Jesse was sitting up in his bed. A bowl of simply _disgusting_ smelling food sat in front of him and his legs were crossed on the mattress. He looked up from his almost-unwanted meal just in time to see Hanzo lean heavily out of his wheelchair, albeit weakly, and wrap his arms around the cowboy's waist, unable to reach any higher in his rush. 

"Jesse-!" He gasped, thrilled to feel the living, breathing and warm agent in his hold again. Fingers were absently brushing through his hair as well, as Hanzo held his human tight. He was alive. Jesse was alive and it had _worked_. 

"I'll leave you two for a bit, make sure to eat that." Angela scolded. Funny, Hanzo hadn't noticed she was there. 

Silence fell for a moment. The two just held each other and breathed each other's scent for a moment. Hanzo smelled like ocean and oddly enough, gun polish. That was quickly explained by the blanket around his shoulders, McCree mused. It was Ana's. 

Jesse smelled nothing like himself. And maybe that would have been more upsetting if not for the thrilling reunion that had preceded this observation. He smelled of chemicals and blood and hospital. But no longer did he hold the scent of near death- and whether that smell had been imagined or not, Hanzo was ecstatic to notice it. 

"Zen told me whatcha did, Han." McCree's voice was weak, hoarse from lack of use for months. But it was just loud enough for the former mer to hear. "I don't know what to say- I..." 

"Perhaps a thank you would suffice." Hanzo teased, stroking the limp hair gently. "I'm just glad you're awake." 

"Han- you're human now. I- I'm sorry... you didn't have ta-" 

"You hush right now." Hanzo said firmly. He quite certainly would have slapped a hand over the man's mouth if he hadn't been so adamant about keeping his grasp around his waist. "I would do it a thousand times over if I needed. I am just glad you're back with us. With me. Don't you ever do that again, do you hear me?" He poked the man's chest with each syllable. 

"Darlin'-" the sentence was stopped at the look Hanzo gave him. "Loud and clear, sugar." Jesse grinned. He wrapped his arms carefully around Hanzo, holding him tightly like a lifeline. 

"I missed you." The smaller man said, sounding small and hurt, like he feared being too loud anymore. Like it was a dream and if he were loud he would wake himself up. McCree touched the man's shoulder, at the crook of his neck. It was strange to not feel gills there anymore, but there were tiny, almost unnoticeable bumps from where they had been. Hanzo looked at him through puffy eyes. He was near crying. 

"Not near as much as I missed you, darlin." Jesse said, smiling and swiping his thumb under Hanzo's eyes. They were brown now, the lightning blue gone from his irises. He had near never seen anything quite as beautiful. 

This time, Hanzo got a response when he leaned forward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OU O Tell me what you think! This took very long and I'm sorry, the epilogue will be out sooner than this was. I'm thinking of starting another story too... but we'll see based off of how this does. I don't want to waste what little time I have on something no one cares for and lose interest halfway through. :)


	14. Out of all the fish in the sea, I'm glad it was you who found me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a few snippets of the future for McCree and Hanzo   
> Thanks for reading, it's been a blast <3

"And there we go!" Angela said cheerfully as the last support connected with a 'click'. "McCree will help you with taking them off and on for the first while, it's a bit difficult until we can get them completely finished. But these should help you immensely with your walking. And it should also take away the pain of walking as well." The good doctor said with a grin. "I wish we could figure out more of why your legs refuse to work correctly- I'm still looking into it..." 

"As long as I can stand It will all be fine." Hanzo said slowly, gently touching the shiny cover of the braced boots. The large knee of the things held his legs straight, and the rubber on the bottoms of them kept him from slipping and sliding around. They were lovely, in Hanzo's opinion, but he couldn't be sure as to whether it was because they were shiny or because he would be able to walk without Jesse's help. Most likely both.

At first he hadn't minded the cowboy's help, but in the end he grew tired of his lack of independence. They had offered him his own room, but he couldn't move from it without dragging himself by his arms. So he had opted out of that rather quickly, and had moved in with Jesse. Genji had a room with Zenyatta as well, having to get everywhere with a wheelchair anyway until his prosthesis were all completed and ready to apply. The good doctor had estimated a good four months before it was completed. Torbjorn estimated three. 

"Great to hear, Ang. How long do ya think It'll take fer our man here to get used ta it?" Jesse asked from his chair, off to the side of the little exam room. 

"Oh knowing him, a few weeks at the most. We'll have to have him come in for about an hour a day, and he should be fine. He's already got the mechanics of walking down from what we've seen, but he doesn't have the muscle or control to get it all right away." 

"Yeah, Zarya has already said she'd help him with 'leg day'. A few times now. I think she's excited 'bout it ta be perfectly honest." McCree laughed.

"She probably is." Angela smiled. "Now, I trust you're used to the routine by now? I have another transformed fish man patient to attend to now." 

"You say it like it's a bad thing." Genji said from the doorway, where he had just wheeled himself into the room on his wheelchair. "Wow brother, those are some shiny legs they have made you." He winked. "Did you request that?" 

"Of course not." Hanzo huffed. "The doctor just has good taste, if anything." The newfound human huffed. 

"Pff, of course she does. Ain't nobody know fashion better. 'Cept maybe Satya or Hana." 

Angela looked at McCree, a knowing smile on her lips. Hanzo hadn't requested anything at all, and Angela had never had any hand in design. 

Jesse McCree, on the other hand... Well. He had been spending a lot of time with Satya and Hana for the last few weeks. 

~*~ 

A year later found the two walking down the hall together, holding hands. Hanzo leaned heavily on the cowboy, smiling sleepily. 

"I can't believe you practiced fer almost six hours while I was gone. What if you had hurt yourself?" McCree scolded, his eyes soft. "Yer archery is already stellar, why'dya gotta push it?" 

"I want to be the best." Hanzo admitted. "I want to be able to help you and your cause." 

Especially since the cause had kept McCree away from base for nearly a month. Hanzo didn't like it when that happened, especially after the whole Australia thing a year and a half ago. And he definitely got nervous when, like today, Jesse comes back covered in what looked like smoke and debris. Hanzo frowned and reached up to rub at the cowboy's nose with his thumb, trying to clean off a black smudge. 

"Han- please I don't need- WHOOF!" 

The poor man struggled to stay upright as a large mass suddenly collided with his back, and wrapped four limbs about his waist and shoulders. 

Ah, Genji. 

Ever since he had gotten all of the proper limb replacements and organ fixes (For a human) he had been able to zip and zap around everywhere he wanted. He especially liked to mess with Jesse since he knew that the cowboy was especially more patient than most. 

"What are you two up to? Going to lunch?" The little cyborg (sans armor, thank every deity ever. Why Torbjörn had insisted on making it, no one would ever know.) asked, resting his chin on McCree's shoulder. "I was getting hungry so I thought I'd join you. Oh- Jess, you have something on your face." He said, starting to rub the entire side of Jesse's face with his left hand. 

"How mighty kind. Hanzo was just finishin' up with trainin'." The agent said, trying to brush Genji's hand away. "I was gonna shower after we ate, so don' go rubbin' my face off." 

"Training? Ooooh I still haven't seen you in action, Jesse! When can I?" 

"Maybe after lunch? But we gotta make sure Hanzo here gets enough rest before he passes out, y'know." 

"Still on archery?" 

"Yes- aren't you?" Hanzo asked, looking up at his brother who was still clinging to Jesse like a rather nimble monkey. 

"No- it was too boring. I'm trying out swords! It's a lot like the spears we used back home, but less hard to swing! No resistance to it like the water gave us." 

Ah. That would explain the amounts of destroyed training bots downstairs. Jesse would have to tell Winston.

A strange side effect of the two's newfound humanity was a lack of control in strength. While it would have made sense that maybe they weren't as strong because of being underwater, it was a very, very wrong assumption. Hanzo and Genji, they had accidentally found out, had an upper body strength to rival that of any human. They had quickly learned not to let the two near canned foods or door handles for a while, because they kept accidentally crushing them. Hence the weapons training, it helped them with their control. 

Jesse had three ruined shirts because of this, stained with the grease of various canned soups and blood from Hanzo accidentally cutting his hands on said cans. He didn't mind, but he had become quite cautious. He had to explain that, since they were no longer under water, their hold on things were firmer and less slippery, and they didn't need to grip smooth or round things as hard as they were used to. And that they didn't need to swing weapons so hard since there was no water resistance to oppose the effort. Genji was a little better injury wise, because of his metal coverings on his arms, and he didn't bleed. But there were no less than sixteen door handles in need of replacing. 

Jesse also, for the first few months, sported a fair amount of bruises on his arms and shoulders from where the brothers would cling to him for support. And while they still sprouted up occasionally, they were significantly less common than before and less painful to host. It also probably helped that Hanzo had been quite upset when he found out, and had been extraordinarily careful since.

"You're over excitable today, aren'tcha?" Jesse chuckled, not even pausing when they reached the sink of the kitchen and started washing his hands. "What'll it be fellas? Pancakes? Grilled Cheese? Noodles?" 

"Grilled cheese is fine, Jesse." Hanzo said, working to pry his brother off of the man. "Genji get off, he requires mobility. And I'm certain he's been through enough today to not need you to hang off of him." 

"Can I help? I can get the cheese-" Genji was saying as Hanzo tugged on his brother's waist to try and pry him off of the cowboy. It was a strange sight, but thankfully only Ana was there to see it. And she had seen stranger things, and only raised her teacup in greeting. 

"Sure, sure, just don't break anything this time." Jesse hummed, pulling out the bread and butter. "Y'want soup with that I suppose?" 

"Of course. Do you want me to-" 

"No. I got it this time, don't you worry sugar." The cowman kissed his dragon's forehead and went to get the can. "Ana? You want some?" 

"No Jesse, I am fine. But surely you could have washed your face before making food?" She said, lifting her cup to her lips. "And Hanzo, dear, I need your help with this crossword puzzle." She lifted the book off of the table. 

"Oh- of course." He nodded, glancing at Jesse for permission. The cowboy just nodded and turned back to cooking, Genji on his back still. 

He'd have bruises on his bruises later. But that was fine. 

~*~ 

It was nearing midnight when Jesse yelped as a cold hand touched the right side of his ribs softly, creating a tickling sensation. He lifted his head to see what on earth his bed-mate was doing. 

"Jesse, you never told me. What is this?" Hanzo asked, brushing his fingers along the brand mark. A skull with chains coming out each side of it's row of teeth. A pair of wings sprouted from either side of it's temples as well. The size of the mark was about equivalent to Hanzo's hand with spread fingers. There were many other scars that spanned the man's body, but they were ignored for now.

"Oh- that was the mark all us Deadlocks got when we were officially in. Hurt like the dickens, but once ya got it you were parta the family. Or, well, as much as we could consider that family anyway." 

"They burned you like a cattle... to make you... family?" 

"Yeah, well, seems pretty messed up now, but it was what we sort of... accepted as normal at the time." Jesse sighed, letting his head fall back on the pillow, where Hanzo let his own rest on his shoulder, fingers still tracing the glossed-over scar. The skin was so smooth there, so unnatural. 

"And this one?" He pressed his other hand to the blackwatch symbol on his upper left chest, right below his shoulder. 

"Ah- that's a tattoo. Blackwatch. I did that one... myself. Didn't need no brandin' that time." 

"You did it yourself?" 

"Well yeah, ya kinda learn weird tricks of the trade when yer on the run. Couldn't exactly just go to a parlour. I have more from before then though. Why?" 

Hanzo sat up, looking the cowboy in the eye. "I want one. A tattoo." 

"A tattoo?" Jesse hummed in question, still tired from the mission. His eyes were drooping, but the conversation intrigued him too much to sleep. "Hmm. Of what?" 

Hanzo thought for a moment, thinking. His brow furrowed and then he blinked. 

"A Dragon." 

"A dragon? And why a dragon?" He asked, smiling. 

"I have taken a liking, to your little nickname for me, it seems." He explained, giving the human beneath him a small boop on the nose. 

Jesse grinned at that and tugged Hanzo down for a chaste kiss. Something they rarely did. He wondered if it was from habit or from hesitation. Either way, it always made them just that much more special. 

"I think that's a great idea, sweetpea. But how about we wait until mornin ta get on plotting. Hm? As much as I love hearin' ya talk t'me, I'm right tuckered out." 

"Of course, Jesse. There is always tomorrow. Now, sleep." Hanzo kissed his nose and then rested his head on the cowman's shoulder. 

His cowman. 

"Hmm. Did I tell you, that outta all the fish in the sea, I'm glad yer the one that saved me?" Jesse asked softly, barely a whisper. "Sometimes I think it's all a dream, and I'm still in that god-awful coma." 

"Yes, many times. But it is not a dream. Now let us sleep, and when you wake tomorrow, I will still be here." Hanzo hummed lovingly. 

And he was.

FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, Thank you so much for reading! It's been fun to write this AU and I really love, love loved your comments and suggestions! Thank you to those who pointed out mistakes too, my editing times were limited (as is my attention span haha) 
> 
> I hope to write more but it's uncertain, but we'll see what the future holds, eh?


	15. A Ballad for Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas and stuff, nerds.

"What... is this?" Genji asked, looking around the room. 

It looked like a forest had barfed all over the room, and McCree was adding sparkle to it, with the help of Dr. Zeigler, Zenyatta, Reinhardt and Winston.  

Hanzo was sitting on the chair, reading a book (Occasional help from Jesse and Winston, who had insisted the two learn how to read) and looking nearly as confused as Genji did. Ana and Fareeha were sitting on the opposite couch with Jaimie and Mako, trying to teach the former how to knit. 

He was doing terribly. A large wad of yarn was on the end of his needles and entangled with his fingers.  But "A for Effort!", as McCree always Put it. "One cannot learn without trying" As Zenyatta would.

There was also a tiny, sad looking tree sitting by the corner. It had strings of lights on it and strange baubles, but it still managed to look very small and sad.

"Christmas?" Hanzo said, indicating around the room. Jesse nodded enthusiastically. 

"Comes 'round once a year. It's traditionally a Pagan thing- we'll cover that later, and now It's a holiday to give gifts and show how much people mean to ya." 

"And don't forget Hanukah. We do that too!" Lena said cheerfully, placing a strange looking candelabra on the windowsill. "Personally, I love every holiday. Emily's family is mostly Jewish and Roman Christian, so we do both!" 

"Yup!" Emily said, coming into the room wearing the most hideous sweater Genji had ever seen. It had a strange six-sided star on it and an odd pattern of socks. 

"I am trying to read this story here, Genji look. There is a fat man in a bright red costume coming down holes in roofs! And he uses his nose for magic. I've never heard such a thing." 

"What?! Let me see!" Genji said with a grin, smooshing himself into the chair with Hanzo, who huffed and moved over a little to make room. McCree Leaned over the back, shiny strings of metal hanging in his hair. "His nose?!" 

"Yes, see here-  _And laying a finger, alongside his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose._ See? His nose!" 

"That there is Santa Claus. He's a make-believe elf who comes and gives gifts to everyone on Christmas eve- the day before Christmas- and steals cookies." 

"So if he is not real- why do people tell tales of him? Why not simply tell who actually put presents and ate cookies?" Genji asked with a frown. "It makes no sense." 

"Well... my mama always told me it was so that kids wouldn' feel so bad 'bout their parents getting' gifts when the family couldn't afford stuff. Though to be fair, I aint ever seen proof that he don't exsist." 

"Nonsense! Why would you believe such things?" Angela laughed, putting more of the sparkly strands in McCree's hair. He laughed. 

"Well... Merfolk are real, aint they?" 

"Of course we are." Hanzo huffed. 

"Then why wouldn't a lil' fat man comin' down the chimney? Sounds good and fine to me." 

"You're ridiculous." Fareeha laughed, helping straighten the yarn again. 

"I don't see why not!" Jaimie piped in. "Roadie's almost Santa Claus himself!  All he needs is some reindeer." 

"What's a reindeer exactly?" 

"WH- wait a second! You aint been out with me to the farm!" McCree slapped his own forehead. "You ain't seen my deer!" 

"Deer? You have deer?"  Lena nearly flew across the room to him.

"Well I don't own em- they like my land though. And they ain't Reindeer, but they're deer. Used ta collect their horns all the time when they lost em. It's nice an' quiet. We used ta have horses n' all, but since I ain't livin' there as much, had ta sell em. My ol' neighbor bought em." 

"You still have that farm?" 

"Well yeah. Only place I can go without bein' hunted like a criminal. Wish we could all go there for a while. Gets a lil' cramped here. Prolly overrun by weeds now though. Hmm." McCree fell into thought, eyes looking into a middle-distance. 

"Why don't we go then? Nothing is happening right now, and I'm almost certain everyone here has a large case of cabin fever." Ana said, sitting up straighter. "I've been there, it's a lovely location. And perhaps we could get an actual tree." 

"Wai- when didja go to my house?" McCree asked with a quirked brow. 

"When we had to tell your mother where you were. Bless her soul." 

"Hm." McCree huffed. "Well. If you want, I could arrange it. Go up a few days early and set it all up." 

"That sounds nice." Lena said, flopping on the couch, leaning against Ana. "I'm tired of metal walls and floors. Plus, we could plant this tree out there and give it a chance." She pointed to the bush. 

"Where did you even find that thing?" Winston asked, examining it. "It can't even be a year old." 

"It was all I could get with our budget." Emily huffed. "But in the spirit of Christmas and Charlie Brown, we will revive it!" 

"What's a Charlie brown and what does it have to do with anything?" 

By the look on Reinhardt's face, his heart was breaking. 

"I'm going to go get my movie player." 

~*~

McCree and Hanzo went up to the farmhouse first. Since the building was old, Jesse told the others he would have to turn the power on and get the heat running. Plus, it had a genuine fireplace in the living room. 

It was close to the borders of Colorado, and was thusly surrounded by mountains. The sky was as blue as the ocean when they arrived, and there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. Hanzo found the area enchanting immediately, if not freezing.  

"Alright!" Jesse said when they entered. It was dusty, Hanzo immediately noticed when his nose itched and made him sneeze. Furniture was covered with plastic and the floors hosted a coat of dirt and dust that must have blown in from unused vents. "You feelin' alright? Bracers holdin' up? The cold's really killin my arm." 

"I am fine, though we need to warm you up if it's that bad." 

"Let's see, we gotta go downstairs and turn on the power, Last time I was here I rigged it up to a switch." Jesse hummed happily, plopping down his bag on the floor (Sending up a cloud of sneeze- inducing dust) The cowboy paused. "Hmm... I know ya like to take yer shoes off inside, but for now, leave em on. No need ta get your feet all dirty." He said, waltzing over to a door. "It's down here." He opened it. 

Hanzo looked down the straight set of stairs, also drowned in dust, and couldn't see the bottom. It was dark and looked as though it would swallow up whoever went down. Much like the movies he had seen. 

The archer shuddered.

"Uh... I'll wait here." Hanzo said. McCree raised a brow, then frowned. 

"Did those junkers watch scary movies again? They told me they wanted to watch the Conjuring. I'mma have a word with em." He huffed, turning and stomping on down the stairs. He disappeared into the dark and Hanzo watched with eyes wide, as the dark did exactly as he had feared. 

It had swallowed McCree right up. 

"Jesse?" He asked, staring down. 

There were dark areas in the ocean, of course. He had clung to them. But it felt so different to this, there was no feeling the water around him, there was no hearing anything approach with the change of pressure. No senses to rely on other than sound and sight, one of which were useless.

"Jesse?" 

Suddenly, a loud roar erupted from all around. The vents suddenly coughed up dust and a burning smell filled the room. Hanzo yelped in terror and went to the stairs. He peered down, trying to catch a glimpse of his human, seeing nothing down below. 

"Are you alright?" He called down, trying to hear anything. Then he picked up Jesse's laugh as he started up the stairs. 

"I'm right as rain darlin'. The powers on, that's all!" 

"Why does it smell of fire?!" 

"The dust in the vents are burnin'. That's all honeybee." He laughed, hugging the other man to his chest as he reached the top. "It'll be gone in an hour or so. Sorry ta scare ya." He kissed the man's temple. "Let's crack open some windows to clear it up a bit." 

The rest of the day went by much more uneventfully. They changed sheets on the beds, of which there were six. They took the plastic off of the couches and chairs, and wiped down the tables and counters. Soon, they had aired everything out, and were mopping the floor when McCree's stomach groaned in frustration at its neglect. 

"Hmm. Better go to town and stock the fridge too." The cowboy laughed. "Plus we gotta buy for Christmas dinner too." 

"What do we need for that?" 

"Well, it's tradition for my family to have ham and all the fixin's. So, we'll do that I think." Jesse grinned. "I'm sure you'll like Ham. It's got a pear jam marinade and everythin'. I got a special recipe." He winked, and touched the side of his nose, like Santa in the story. 

~*~

The crew showed up the next day, and were just as excited to be there as they had been the week before. Mei and Zarya had chosen to go visit family in Russia, while Torb was doing the same in Sweden. Soldier, bless his soul, had been dragged along by Ana and Fareeha. Much of his visit was spent in a corner, grouching. In tow, Winston carried the sad little tree, safely in its pot. 

"I got us a tree in the basement, it's one o' the plastic ones, but it's huge. When we're done with that, we'll take this one out and give it a chance." McCree said to Lena and Emily when they asked, and the three went down into it to get it. Hanzo and Genji refused to go down, much thanks to the junkers.

(Jaimie in particular. "Why would you ever show anyone the Conjuring?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'AND ANABELLE?!") 

"What's this here?" Ana asked, picking up an old CD. It had to have been from the 10's or even earlier, but the thing was labeled in purple sharpie "MAMA MCCREE'S CHRISTMAS" It wasn't McCree's handwriting. 

"Put it in the player, dearest!" Reinhardt said with a grin. "It must have classics!" 

"Oh! Here's one!" Lucio said, pushing a little button that released a tray for a disc. Ana carefully blew dust off of it before putting it in and gently pushing it back in. It was silent for a moment before a lovely guitar tune started up. 

_"Pretty Paper, Pretty ribbons, Of Blue~"_

"Randy Travis? Nice." Lucio hummed, running over to the door to hold it open for McCree, who was carrying the tree on his shoulder. It was in a long box that looked like it could be holding a body. 

"Wonderful! Let's put it in the window over here." Ana said happily, helping him settle the box on the ground. "Does it have lights on it?" 

"Yeah, one o' those prelit ones," 

"Excellent." She hummed. 

The group went to work putting the three parts of the tree together, it smelled dusty, but was ignored entirely. Tracer made sure the three pieces were plugged together before Hana plugged it into the wall. 

It lit up after a few moments of flickering, and the household cheered happily. 

"Tinsel?" Fareeha asked. 

"We brought some from base, since we weren't using it there anyway." Winston said, holding up a box with tape on it that said "LIGHTS N STUFF" McCree chuckled. 

Hanzo and Genji enjoyed putting the strings of tinsel up around it, choosing to put white on. 'It looks like snow!' And then they put the scarce amounts of ornaments they had, plus a few from McCree's storage. It looked lovely. They used a blue serape (Much like McCree's red one) and put it on as the skirt. 

It was perfect. 

"Alright! Let's take the little guy out and give him a home!" Hana cheered, pulling on her coat and boots with Lucio, who was laughing at some joke Genji had just accidentally cracked. 

McCree grabbed his shovel, pulling on his coat and they headed outside. Jaimie and Mako chose to stay inside, feeling too cold from the nighttime snow. 

They buried it on the edge of the property, making sure the roots would have room to grow. Genji, Angela, Hana and Hanzo all were in awe at the Deer that watched from the trees, their black noses and large ears twitching in curiosity. Jesse laughed and fetched some apples, telling the three to toss them gently to them. It was fascinating to watch them eat the fruit, chewing like slack jawed toddlers. Lucio played calming music that made them all feel somehow warmer.

Once it was buried, they headed inside.

That night, the group spent their time making little cards and playing games. Jesse and Ana had set the ham out to thaw overnight in the sink, and had chosen the perfect potatoes and vegetables for the next day's meals. 

Hot chocolate was had and they roasted marshmallow's in the fireplace. Hanzo was curled up against Jesse's side, drinking his own hot chocolate. Reinhardt was reading 'The Night Before Christmas' to them all, while they snuggled in blankets and pillows on the floor. 

Snow was drifting outside, and everyone had pinned one of their socks to the fireplace as a stocking. It was a ridiculous display, and made everyone smile at its own uniqueness.  

"Why did we miss this last time?" Hanzo asked quietly, playing with Jesse's hair. The gunslinger frowned in thought. "It is lovely, and I wish we hadn't missed it." 

"Ya know what? We missed it cuz I was sleepin." Was all he said. 

"I see." Hanzo frowned. That would explain everything. Unconsciously, the archer's hand traced the scars along Jesse's collarbone and arms. He wasn't entirely sure which were from that incident, or which had already exsisted. 

"Sorry 'bout that, mate." Jaimie said, sipping his drink. Jesse just chuckled. 

"Well we get to have a good an' proper Christmas. All we need now is Santa to pop by and drop off his gifts." 

"I told you, Jesse. It'll be a slim Christmas." Ana said with a frown. 

"Darlin, Santa aint got no budget." Jesse winked. "Never has."  

"OH!" Fareeha suddenly sat up, then stalked across the room to her bag. The group watched as she dug around before letting out an "AHA" and then walking to Jesse... with a guitar case. 

"It's Tradition!" 

"Oh honey... I ain't touched that song in- what? Seven? Eight years? Prolly longer." 

"But Jesse, hubibi, it sounds so lovely. Especially from you." 

Hanzo watched it all with a twinkle in his eye. "What is this?" He asked. "Have you been holding out on me? This is a guitar, no?" 

"Fine! Fine. Lemme tune her up some." 

The group murmured in interest as he plucked and adjusted the guitar. Finally, it sounded right and Jesse settled with it. Lucio made sure to have his phone out to record, as did Hana. There was no way they were missing this. 

"Gabriel and Jack used to love this." Ana explained as Jesse worked his fingers out to re-familiarize himself with the tune. "Every year, without fail, they would have Jesse sing this and teach it to the recruits. It was Fareeha's favorite part of the parties." 

"No-" 

"Don't lie habibti. It looks silly on you." Jesse cleared his throat and the room fell silent. 

"Now, I'm rusty as a gear, but let's give it a shot." 

The Guitar strums filled the room and Hanzo was enamoured, as was Genji and Zenyatta. Most had not known McCree was musically inclined. Oh, Lucio would have a field day.

" _While_ _Bill_ _was a wild one, He loved a pretty young filly, named Josephine._    
_But one night in a snowstorm, Bill didn't come home, and that was the last time he would be seen."_

So it was a sad song.

" _But he used to sing her, sweet love songs at Christmas, they walked hand in hand through the fields._    
_And one time he picked her a dozen_ _camellias_ _, and said 'I love you forever, my sweet Josephine."_

The song continued, a typical country tale, of a woman who had lost her man and longed for him. The tune was sweet and lovely, leaving Jesse's lips like they had fought to escape for years. The woman wept for years, longing for this Wild Bill, and her family worried, setting up a marriage to someone who could care for her. Hanzo felt he didn't like this story much, when the poor woman wept at her own wedding, in loss for her own love. But then it changed.

  _"And that's when it Happened. She heard his horse Whinny,_ _She_ _heard his sweet love song again._    
_Camellias Started falling, clean out of the Blue sky._    
_And there before her Green eyes, was Bill's Texas Grin."_

The chorus, Camellias for Christmas, and how Bill swept her up. It somehow brought tears to some of the listener's eyes. And though the story was completely unrealistic, Hanzo was reminded of his own tale. McCree had come back, he always came back. He smiled, resting on his own wild cowboy's shoulder.

The song finished and a roaring round of applause erupted from the group. Lucio was ecstatic, Ana was politely clapping and wiping her eyes, and Reinhardt was outright bawling. Fareeha threw her arms around Jesse's neck from behind the couch and laughed. 

"I thought I'd never hear that again." Soldier said softly, barely heard by Jesse, who was closest to him. The Cowboy smiled.

"I didn't either." 

Everything took a bit to calm down, Jesse playing a few little tunes to fill the quiet after it did. Finally, it was near two AM and they decided to go to sleep in the living room all together. It only seemed right. 

It took not long, everyone in a strange huddle that started on the couch and spilled over to the floor, where a fort of blankets and pillows had erupted. Genji was laying on the cowboy's lap, fast asleep. Zenyatta was floating next to the couch, humming to the music. Fareeha was settled with Angela, on Jesse's legs. Ana was with Reinhardt on the large chair in front of the fire, and Lena was snuggled with Emily, on Winston's chest. Mako was a large pillow on the floor, while everyone else was in a dogpile on and around him.

Genji mumbled something about tuna and shifted so that he was burying his face in McCree's stomach. Hanzo chuckled and felt his eyes drooping. 

"Goodnight honeybee, get some sleep." Jesse said softly, kissing Hanzo's cheek.

Hanzo had never felt warmer. 

~*~

BONUS:

The archer woke early that morning and looked around sleepily. He glanced at Jesse's watch and saw that it was about 4 am. Everyone in the room was still sleeping with a blanket and pillow either on the chairs or floor, or in Ana's case, on Reinhardt. 

He sighed and snuggled closely to his Cowboy pillow, making sure neither of their necks would hurt later. He was about to close his eyes when he heard a small rustle of cloth from the fireplace and looked over. He blinked several times when he saw Torbjorn in a santa suit, stuffing the socks with small gifts. The swede turned his head, white beard glowing orange in the light, and winked, turning away and shushng Hanzo with a finger to his lips. He knew there was nothing to worry about.

Hanzo shrugged and fell back asleep. 

But not before feeling rather confused. Wasn't Torbjorn in Sweden with his family?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That song is real and it makes me cry. But it's so pretty. It's also in a Hallmark movie so poop. I love George Canyon so shush.  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mlCUeEhT_I
> 
> Anyway! The feedback on this fic has been amazing, so I felt I owed kind of a bonus gift! VIA TORB. 
> 
> Hope your holidays are great, I love you, Have a good one!!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading <3~ If you want more, go to my tumblr and look at the merhan AU tag. ( meesta-egg.tumblr.com)


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